


Recon Incorporated

by freshia



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Office, Boss/Employee Relationship, M/M, Multi, Office Sex, Smut, and connie/sasha, but i dont want to put them as relationship because it's not significant enough, there's also annie/mikasa, wow this place has tags for everything huh, ymir/christa - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-17
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2017-12-20 10:28:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 35,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/886190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freshia/pseuds/freshia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He was just looking for a way to pay the bills — a job that was easy, fun, and something he was into. Where could he possibly go wrong with a travel agency? Assistant!Eren Boss!Rivaille; Office AU.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out of Office

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Recon Incorporated](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2541569) by [Hypericum](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypericum/pseuds/Hypericum), [Oxygen_Neutron](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oxygen_Neutron/pseuds/Oxygen_Neutron)
  * Translation into Italiano available: [Recon Incorporated](https://archiveofourown.org/works/4530798) by [notbadbrat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notbadbrat/pseuds/notbadbrat)



> A/N: This fic is based off of life 80 from my other fanfic, 100 Lives, but you don't need to read that one to understand this one (especially since it's very loosely based). Done by request!

Eren never claimed that he was good at his job, or that he never made mistakes. Of course he sometimes messed up. He had held this internship for about 3 days, and hell, he had only been in the city for about 2 weeks total.

Snatching up the coffee cups and shoving money into the barista's hand with a rushed "Keep the change.", Eren shot out of the Starbucks. Hanji seemed like a patient person, but he had also been gone for an hour longer than planned (he blamed the layout of this city, which seemed to rely less on a grid and more on roads that curved wherever the hell they felt like). Juggling the iced coffees, he reached down to check his phone, hoping there weren't any impatient texts from his boss.

As he fumbled with the small piece of crap he called a cellphone, struggling to connect the dots in the right order, ( _who the hell decided that that was a good way to lock your phone_?) he missed the crack in the pavement ahead. Before he even had enough time to react, the toe of his shoe caught and consequently sending him toppling over.

Onto another person.

The iced coffees burst open as they hit the ground, covering the two men in over-priced beverage. Eren groaned as he scooted off the other man, rubbing the back of his head. "Aw, shit, I'm sorry-"

He cut himself off when he saw the other man's glare. If looks could kill, Eren was pretty sure he'd be dead a thousand times over. "U-Uh..." he stuttered. The other rolled his eyes, picking himself up off the ground.

"Watch where you're going, brat." he sent one more dark look towards Eren, before stalking off and never looking back.

Eren frowned, hoping that not everyone in this city was like that. Dusting himself off, he dashed back off towards his car. How was he going to explain  _this_?

x

Another 20 minutes of driving around completely lost (he really needed a GPS in here), and Eren finally made it back to the company building. Hanji hadn't sent any texts, but that didn't mean he was off scott-free.

The building wasn't the biggest around - but it wasn't small either. At least 10 stories tall, the glass panes around it gave a modern look that seemed fitting for a travel company. Despite that, however, it didn't stand out and Eren still had a habit of sometimes accidentally passing by the building. The only thing that identified the building was a small sign above the door:

" _RECONNAISSANCE TRAVEL_ ".

As soon as he entered through the door, he noticed that something was off. The atmosphere was tenser, seeming to thicken the farther into the building he went. And was it just him, or was the place practically  _sparkling_  clean?

He entered the elevator, deciding to brush it off as he pressed the button for the top floor. Eren was probably just nervous about being late. The place definitely  _did_  have an undeniably cleaner scent to it, though...

Finally reaching it's destination, the elevator door dinged open to an amused-looking Hanji sitting a few feet away at her desk. She glanced up at the noise, eyes lighting up at the sight of the boy.

"Oh, Eren! You made it back!" she clapped her hands together. "Good, good, come over here! There's someone I want you to meet."

Shuffling over to her desk sheepishly, he scratched the back of his head. "I kind of, uh, messed up and spilt the coffees, but I'll pay for them out of my own pocket so-"

"Huh?" she cocked her head in confusion, before waving it off. "Oh! Don't worry about it, it's fine." she scanned him, pausing and frowning at the stains on his shirt. "What happened there?"

He glanced down at his shirt, grimacing at the large coffee stain. "I tripped and landed in the iced coffee spill. I can go home and change if you need me to."

Hanji shook her head, leaning back in the office chair. "No, I think it's fine for today. Kind of a strange coincidence though-" her eyes widened a bit as something occurred to her.

".. Did you happen to run into anyone on the way?"

Eren paled. "Er, yeah, I did but if they come here complaining I'll pay for that too, I swear- Uh, Miss Zoe?"

Hanji had her hand over her mouth, looking like she was trying hard not to laugh. After a moment of silence, she took a shaky breath.

"Well-"

"Hanji, it's still not coming out. Don't you have any stain remover that doesn't suck ass? And who the hell are you talking to?"

Eren jumped at the voice, taken off guard. He turned his head to find the source - in the bathroom? He hadn't even been aware there was anyone else here.

"Nope!" she replied back, grinning again. "And if you come out here, you'll see."

An irritated sigh was heard from behind the door. "I'm not wearing a shirt, you dingbat."

"It's fine! We're all men here!" Not missing the bewildered look Eren sent her, she winked at him. "Just kidding. Probably."

As Eren side-eyed his boss warily, a shuffling noise was heard from the bathroom. Finally, with a  _click_  the door opened to a very irritated, familiar sight.

 _Familiar_? Eren swept his gaze over the shirtless man, probably lingering too long on his surprisingly ripped chest. He forced his eyes back up to the man's face, cursing himself as he felt the heat crawl to his face. Now was  _not_  the time for that!

The man raised an eyebrow. "Did you follow me all the way here? Going to spill another coffee on me, kid?"

Eren gaped as it all clicked together. Sputtering for a response, Hanji interrupted him before he had a chance to speak.

"Eren, meet Rivaille. Rivaille, Eren Jaeger. Remember how I told you that there was another boss when you came in on your first day, but he was on vacation?" Eren nodded. He vaguely remembered something about that. "Well, he's back now! Rivaille, this is your new assistant."

Rivaille glared at Hanji, his eyes flicking from her to Eren. He sighed.

"I leave for one week for business, and you hire an assistant without me."

She shrugged. "You work too hard. You needed one, so I got one." standing up from the desk, she stretched. "Here's your desk back! If you need me, I'll be in my office." thumping Eren on the back as she walked by, just for good measure.

Eren stood awkwardly in front of the desk as Rivaille sat down, frowning at the boy in front of him. Eren was trying to look anywhere, anywhere but at his attractive,  _topless_  boss-

"First order of business," his voice had a no-nonsense ring to it. Eren turned towards him, only to be met with a face full of coffee-stained shirt. "Is take that to the dry-cleaners. You've got 20 minutes."

Eren wasn't even sure he could find his way out of this building in 20 minutes.

"Er-"

"Starting 5 seconds ago. I'd move if I were you, Jaeger."

x

Eren made it back in 25 minutes.

"You're fired."

Rivaille didn't even look up from the paperwork he was hunched over when he heard Eren enter his office. Eren's jaw slacked a bit at the blunt statement from the other, feeling a bit of anger building up - five minutes! He was five minutes late!

But as soon as he had opened his mouth to say something back to his employer, Hanji peeked from around the corner and cut him off.

"No you're not!" she said, grinning. "It would take the both of us to fire you, and I say no, so you're safe for now, Eren."

An irritated sigh left Rivaille's mouth, his eyebrows furrowed. He glanced up at Eren for a moment, before rolling his eyes at the younger man's confused face.

"Here." he shoved a stack of papers almost two feet tall at the boy in front of him. "Take these down to sales. Give them to a girl named Ymir, she'll know what to do."

"Uh-" the rage in him boiled away. He needed this job, time to keep himself in check. "Yes sir."

x

"So  _you're_  the freshmeat, huh?" A girl with short black hair and freckles took the stack of papers from him, plopping it down on her desk with ease. He couldn't believe how easily she had grabbed the stack from him - he was sure his arms were going to be sore for weeks just from carrying them.

Eren scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess you could say that..." he avoided her gaze. She sized him up, finger pressed to her chin, before bursting into laughter.

"You're not gone yet?" she seemed amused. "Most of Rivaille's assistants don't even last two days... I'd say I'm impressed, but he's been gone so I bet today's your first encounter with him."

Eren frowned. Yeah, Rivaille was tough, but  _two days_? It was a job at least, wasn't it?

Catching his expression, the girl smirked. "Whatever, not my business. By the way, I'm Ymir."  _Not that it will matter when you're gone in a week._

"Eren."

She nodded, glancing at the clock. "If I were you, I'd get back. Rivaille doesn't like people dawdling on his time."

Blinking, Eren glanced at the clock before grimacing. Ymir watched his retreating back as he headed toward the elevator, looking dejected. She plopped back down in her chair, spinning around in a circle before glancing at the short blonde across from her.

"What do you guess, Christa, a week before he's gone?" she popped a piece of gum in her mouth as the other frowned at her.

"You know I don't like to assume things about others..." she glanced down at her desk. Ymir grinned.

"Oh Christa, cute as always. Okay, Reiner, Bertholdt, what do you think?"

"50 bucks he's gone in 3 more days."

"You're on!"

"You guys, can't we just do work for once?"

x

Eren thought that 5 o'clock would never come.

He shuffled into his run-down apartment, surprised he could even make it up the stairs as he fell face-first onto his bed. Forget food and taking a shower, he was so exhausted he could barely keep his eyes open.

But a job was a job, and this one in particular was an especially well-paying job for someone new to the workforce. Maybe Mikasa and Armin made the smarter choice, going to college, but he wasn't much of an intellectual himself. He had thought he had found a fairly easy one that paid well, but...

Taking Rivaille's clothes to the dry-cleaners, carrying 15-ton papers down to the other offices, handing all 200 flyers (unless he wanted his pay docked), running stupid errands all over the city...

And then there were the more...  _Mentally_  taxing parts of the job, like how damn good his boss looked without a shirt and how he couldn't seem to get that image out of his brain. Something about his face too, the way that all of his features were as well-defined as his muscles.

Rolling over with a groan, Eren shoved his face into a pillow. Those weren't the kind of things you were supposed to be thinking about your boss.

But then again, as long as no one knew it was probably fine, right? He creeped his hand under the waistline of his pants. Better to relieve these things at home-

Suddenly his phone went off from inside his pocket. Eren jerked his hand out of his pants so fast that it smacked his headboard.  _Talk about a cockblock_. Hissing, he rubbed the place where it bounced off before reaching for his phone.

" _Going to need you to come to the office tomorrow early. We've got a big promotion. Complain and I'll dock your pay 5 dollars._ "

He groaned. He didn't recognize the number, but it didn't take a genius to figure out who it was from. Saving the number as "Rivaille", he set it to silent and tossed it on his nightstand.

"Ugh, whatever."  _Sleep now, figure out_ other _things later._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: who named this travel agency i mean geez what a terrible name
> 
> OKAY I KNOW THIS KIND OF HAS A SLOW START BUT I tried to make it more interesting. It'll pick up though, with more romance I swear. Chapter 1 is always the most boring chapter though, right?
> 
> I had so many people ask me to make this into a full fic! You guys really surprise me sometimes. Hope all of you enjoy!


	2. For Your Immediate Action

"They were taking  _bets_  on you? That bad?"

Eren stared at Armin from across the cheap food-court table, a mixture of awe and horror painted on his friend's face. Mikasa was sitting between the two, eyes blank but lips pulled downward in a frown. Eren nodded.

"When Rivaille found out, he made everyone involved write a 1000 word essay. I guess it's a common problem, but..."

"That still seems harsh." pity was reflected in the blond's eyes. Eren shrugged, picking up his Icee.

"I didn't get punished, so I guess it doesn't really matter to me."

Mikasa's eyes narrowed. "It's not too late for you to quit and come to college. I'm sure we could figure something out-"

"Thanks, but no." Eren cut her off, setting the cup back down on the table. She still looked defiant, so he continued, "You know I'm not cut out for college, Mikasa. We've been over this. Besides, it's not all that bad at the office."

She let out a defeated sigh, looking down at the table. ".. If you really think so."

"How long have you been there again?" Armin spoke up again, and Eren paused to think. A month? No, it had to be longer than a month...

"A month and a couple weeks, I think?" he scratched the back of his head. Armin's eyebrows bunched together in confusion.

"What's even keeping you there? I'm sure there are other jobs that don't run you ragged..."

"I always liked a challenge?" To be honest, Eren wasn't entirely sure how to answer that. Was it the other people that worked there? Was it Rivaille and how good he looked shirtless? Was it a mixture?

The confusion must have been apparent on Eren's face. Armin studied him for a moment, before shrugging.

"I guess you know what's best for you, Eren."

The brunette grinned in response. "You guys worry too much about me. Don't you have... College-people things to be concerned about? Homework?" he laughed. "Let's go to the arcade before we split up again. I don't get to see nearly enough of you guys anymore."

x

Eren never imagined that the reason he'd be on his hands and knees in Rivaille's office would be for  _cleaning_ -

That was a lewd thought and he really should stop.

"Eren. Are you almost done cleaning that corner?" he could hear Rivaille from his desk,  _feel_  the man's judging gaze on him. "You've been over there for 15 minutes, I've never seen someone take so long to clean up some crumbs. You're not getting off over there, are you, Jaeger?"

Eren sputtered, pausing in his movements. " _What?_ "

"If you are, clean it up. I don't want to see that."

"Why would I-?" Eren jerked his head back, still on the ground. " _No_! It wouldn't be taking me this long if you'd just let me  _vacuum_  instead of pick it up crumb-by-crumb..." trailing off when he saw his boss's face, he turned back around.

"Getting awfully mouthy there, assistant. Vacuums break my concentration."

Grumbling something under his breath, he returned to picking up the little bits from the carpet piece-by-piece. He was going to be here all day at this rate. Sasha had only come in for a few minutes, how did she manage to spread crumbs across the entire office?

"Yo, Rivaille!" a familiar chipper voice called out from the front, and Eren didn't even bother to turn around and look. Hanji was such a common presence, always popping in and out that it barely phased him.

"So I went and paid the electricity bill up, and it actually went down this month- Eren, you have a really nice butt."

He stopped once again, craning his head back to see Hanji standing in front of Rivaille's desk. She looked somewhat impressed. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Uh, thanks?"

"I'm just stating fact. Rivaille, don't you think he has a good-looking ass?"

There was an irritated sigh. "I wasn't looking."

"Really? You should turn around and look. It's really nice. Eren, don't move."

Eren felt a blush creeping up. He wasn't really shy, but he was pretty sure this was wrong on about a thousand different levels.

"If I look, will you leave?"

"Possibly."

Rivaille gave her an indignant grunt, and swiveled around in the chair to face the corner Eren was bent over by. Now he was  _positive_  he was red. Eren turned away from the two, hiding his flustered face.

"... It's decent."

Eren scowled.  _Decent_?

"No way! That's a really good butt." she paused. "A lot better than yours."

Rivaille scoffed. "At least I have one."

" _Eren!_ " he jumped at the sudden urgency Hanji's voice. "Who has the better ass?"

Eren turned around at this, gaping. How was he supposed to answer that? Why was this conversation even happening?

"I-"

"His opinion doesn't matter. He just jerked off in the corner of his boss's office. I'm willing to bet he finds all asses attractive."

Hanji almost looked impressed again.

"I did  _not_!" he shot up from the floor, ears burning. "I'm- Going to take a lunch break!"

Rivaille raised an eyebrow at him, but Eren took off for the elevator before anyone could say another word.

Hanji watched his retreating back with an amused look. Once he was out of earshot, she turned back to Rivaille.

"... You know, I'm pretty sure vacuums never bothered you before."

x

Eren's phone had rung a total of 7 times while he was out.

7 times, as it sat in the corner, vibrating and making a horrendous noise because it was pushed against the wall. He wasn't sure if it had fallen out of the boy's pocket while he was cleaning, or if he placed it there to discreetly text (which was stupid, because the kid didn't know the meaning of discreet), but it didn't change the fact that it was damn irritating. Now, normally, Rivaille would have a policy of not touching other's belongings as per the Golden Rule-

But he'd have to make an exception this time.

He rolled the chair backwards with a sigh, moving towards the offending item. Just as he grabbed it to maybe figure out if he could somehow turn the volume down (or take the battery out, or throw it against the wall,  _anything_  to stop the obnoxious buzzing), it started  _again._ He clicked his tongue in annoyance as the name "Mikasa" lit up the screen. Who the hell was that and why had they called 8 times in a row?

He contemplated answering it. Whoever was so desperately trying to get a hold of Eren  _was_  calling during his working hours, after all. Maybe he could teach them a lesson about distracting  _his_  employees.

He pressed the green button on the screen and held it up to his ear.

"... Oh! Eren, thank God you finally answered. I-"

"This isn't Eren. This is his boss." Rivaille interrupted the female voice on the other end before she revealed something he might not have wanted to know. He picked up the phone to chew someone out, not snoop on his employees life.

There was silence for a moment, and then 'Mikasa' spoke up again. "What are you doing with his phone? Where's Eren?"

Rivaille almost snorted. "He's out running an errand." he lied. "He left his phone here so he won't get  _distracted_."

He could almost hear the girl's anger through the phone. "Excuse me? Look, this is an emergency so if you could tell me where I can talk to him-"

She stopped as there sounds of a scuffle in the background, a boy's muffled voice cutting through in the background. "Did you finally get a hold of him? Oh, Eren, it's awful, I talked to the police but they said that nothing on your floor could be salvaged, the fire's even still burning-"

There were more rustling sounds and a hissed " _This isn't Eren, Armin._ " before the girl's voice came in through the receiver again.

"Please, just tell Eren to call me when he gets back."

"... Alright." and then the line went dead. He set the phone down on his desk, sitting down in the office chair behind it as he thought about what he had heard.

He really probably shouldn't have picked up the phone after all, even if it probably would have come back around to him eventually. He reached for his laptop, pulling up the local news website just to make sure he hadn't misheard anything-

But the live-stream on the screen confirmed his suspicion. Firetrucks and ambulances abound, a news reporter stood in front of a burning apartment building. He clicked out of the site and shut the computer again.

While it didn't really concern him, it did  _make_  him concerned. While Rivaille was strict in his rules and just generally gave off an unpleasant vibe, he wasn't a heartless person. He was good at what he did, and what he did kept people in line. He liked Eren. He was the first assistant to stay for as long as he had, and the first to take all of Rivaille's orders without backtalk. Besides the occasional grumble or face he would pull, he was a good worker.

And then there was the fact that he seemed... Oddly passionate about his job. The boy wanted to see the world, that was for sure. The way his eyes lit up whenever he was given a job pertaining any amount of information about different countries was oddly endearing.

And he had a bad, bad feeling about what this fire meant.

Rivaille went back to work, but trying to focus on the paperwork in front of him proved to be a difficult task. Finally, he leaned back in his chair and stretched. It couldn't hurt to take a quick break-

"Are you and Hanji done talking now?"

Impeccable timing. Rivaille quickly composed himself again, making a point to glare at Eren.

"We were done 5 minutes after you left. That was quite the break."

He shuffled more into the room, scowling. "I told you I was taking an early lunch break. Did I leave my phone here?"

Rivaille glanced to where it was sitting on his desk as Eren investigated the corner he had been crouched in before. He sucked in a breath.

"Eren, do you have renter's insurance?"

He didn't miss the confused look he got in return. "... Uh, what exactly is that again?"

Rivaille sighed. That was  _exactly_  what he had expected. He pushed the phone forward.

"You should check your phone. Your friend called a couple times."

"My friend?" Eren's brow remained furrowed. "Wait- You're going to let me make a personal call at work?" he looked like an idiot, gaping at his boss. Rivaille ignored the shocked look he was receiving.

"I'll make an exception for this."

"Are you feeling okay?"

" _This is an order, Jaeger_."

Eren continued to stare at him, a mixture of concern and confusion etched onto his face as he walked towards his phone. He focused on the screen, tapping his fingers across the glass to get to his notifications. Rivaille watched his face drop.

"7 missed calls from Mikasa? And one received- Did you answer my phone?"

His boss raised an eyebrow at the accusing tone of his voice. "I did. I figured it must have been fairly urgent if she called 7 times in a row."

"What's wrong? Is she hurt? Is Armin hurt?" Eren looked horrified, hand shaking as he held his phone and stared Rivaille down. He exhaled sharply through his nose.

"Your apartment caught fire. I don't know the details, so call your friend back."

Eren continued to frown at him. Rivaille broke away from his gaze, turning back toward the paperwork on his desk.

After a few more moments, he finally the faint ringing tone from Eren's phone.

"Mikasa?"

There was a beat of silence before he spoke again.

"Yeah it's me- Wait, calm down, what's going on?"

Rivaille glanced back up at him to see his eyes trained on the ground. Eren had an intense look on his face, fingers gripping his phone so hard that they were going white. His eyebrows furrowed more and more as the girl on the other end spoke.

"Are you and Armin okay?"

Rivaille arched an eyebrow at that. He had likely just lost all of his possessions, and he was worried about his friends that sounded fine? He noted the way his face relaxed when she apparently told him they were okay. He was still frowning, but not nearly as intensely.

"Oh, good. Okay. Yeah. No, I'm fine as long as you guys are alright. I'll come check it out soon. Did they get the fire put out? Oh.. But they're positive the top 4 floors are taken out... No, I don't. Yeah, I have enough money for awhile. I'll figure something out. Alright, see you guys later."

He pulled the phone away from his face and stared at it for a few seconds, before pocketing it. He caught Rivaille's stare from the corner of his eye and turned to face him.

"I guess they got everyone out alive. Several people were severely burned, though."

Rivaille said nothing in response to that at first, narrowing his eyes at him. Eren looked away.

"I should probably go check it out though, just to make sure-"

"What about your stuff?" Rivaille interrupted him. Eren frowned.

"There was nothing of value, really. The most expensive things I own are my car and my phone. I just moved in there, and I didn't bring anything from home..."

Tapping his pen against the desk, Rivaille watched Eren carefully. "Are you going to move in with your friends?"

He scratched the back of his head. "They live in dorms, so that's not really an option... I have enough money to live in a cheap hotel for awhile until I figure something out."

"Living at home?"

Eren paused, getting a sad look in his eyes before shaking his head and returning to normal. "My dad's never around, and that would be way too long of a commute everyday." seeing Rivaille's face, he quickly backpedaled. "But I'm not quitting! I'll figure it out, I swear, so please don't fire me."

Rivaille blinked at him a couple times. He couldn't be serious, living in some roach-motel?

"You really have no where to go?"

"Well-"

"Besides a nasty motel." he narrowed his eyes further, lips pursed. Eren swallowed.

"... No."

A near minute passed while they stayed in silence, Eren standing up, phone in hand and Rivaille sitting down behind a desk, twirling a pen. Finally, the older man sighed.

"You can stay with me until you get on your feet."

Eren was taken aback. "Excuse me? Er, sir, I really couldn't-"

Rivaille shut him up with a harsh glare. "I can't have one of my workers coming in everyday smelling like they lived at Motel Sex." he placed his pen at the top of his desk, leaning back in his chair. "I only have a couple rules. No touching my things. I have a guest room so you can sleep there. You'll be cleaning up after your messes, because my house is  _pristine_. No house guests - not Mikasa, or your other friend, or any hookers you pick up at any time."

Eren was speechless, so Rivaille continued. "Other than that, I don't care what you do. I'll get you your own key so you can come and go whenever. If you lose it..." he trailed off, sending dangerous vibes Eren's way. He must have picked up on them, because he pulled a face.

"I won't lose it." Eren dropped his gaze to the ground again, frowning, before looking back up. "... You really don't have a problem with this?"

"Do you have any better ideas, shitty brat?" The older man frowned at him."Oh, I guess we could ask Hanji-"

"I'm good!"

Rivaille smirked.

"That's what I thought."

He still didn't seem totally convinced, but Rivaille knew throwing Hanji in there would solidify it. It wasn't that Eren acted like he disliked her, but he seemed more wary of  _her_  than of himself, ironically enough. He didn't blame him. The woman was crazy. At least the kid wasn't totally stupid.

"Now go check out the apartment, figure out what's going on with your friends, and while you're out grab a toothbrush for yourself. Be back here before your hours are over so I can show you where it's at."

Eren nodded, numbly, and left to go do as he was told. Rivaille ran a hand through his hair.

It was going to be a  _long_ next few months.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Sorry for the wait on this one, I struggled with this chapter quite a bit because I wanted it to be fun and humorous, but I also needed to get the plot moving in the direction it needed to go.
> 
> Hopefully I'll be able to crank out chapters a little faster now that I definitely have a plan for where this fic is going. And I'm going to have lots of fun with it. I know this chapter is kind of fillerish, but it's definitely going to get better from here on out, so hold onto your hats!


	3. Non-Disclosure Agreement

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If this is riddled with errors it's totally because I both wrote and beta'd it at like 7am running on absolutely no sleep. I tried to look back over it later but man there's only so many times you can look at your own writing.
> 
> I was not joking when I said I was excited to write these next chapters, haha. I almost ended up merging 3 and 4 together, before deciding I didn't need a colossal chapter.

 Eren wasn't sure what he had expected, but this was much better than he thought.

He trailed Rivaille's car all the way from the office to a small suburb just outside of the city, until he finally pulled into the drive-way. Eren pulled up beside him, staring at the house in amazement.

It wasn't exceptionally large, but it was gorgeous. The grass was perfectly trimmed, along with the outside bushes that lined the front of the house. It had a very  _clean_  feeling to it - the complete opposite of his old run-down apartment complex.

He continued to stare at the house, his eyes moving over every single aspect of it before he caught Rivaille glaring at him from the porch. Grabbing the plastic sack containing his toothbrush (and a few other necessities Mikasa demanded he buy) he exited his car, moving towards his boss.

"Wow. This place is... Really nice."

Rivaille " _hmph'd_ " in response, unlocking the door and stepping inside with Eren behind him. "This is the entryway. Kick your shoes off over there." he said, doing exactly that himself. Eren followed suit. "If you track dirt in here, you're vacuuming it up."

He moved forward, exiting the entrance to a larger room. "This is the living room. If you turn left there's a hallway- The first room on the right's the bathroom, the second is my room. Your room is the first on the left. The second on the left is my study. Don't go in there."

Eren nodded. "What's that room over there?" he pointed towards an entryway across from the hallway entrance. Rivaille followed his gaze.

"Oh, that's the kitchen. I don't-"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Eren was making his way across the living room to check it out. Rivaille followed him, confused by his enthusiasm.

"Wow..." Eren stopped abruptly as he entered the kitchen, almost causing Rivaille to run smack into him. "All this stuff looks so new. Don't you ever cook?" He walked closer to the stove, running his hand over the smooth glasstop surface.

"No." Rivaille crossed his arms. "I don't have time to cook, especially when I'm just cooking for myself."

Eren looked scandalized. "You mean you have  _all this room and equipment_  and you don't ever cook? Do you eat? How do you live?"

"I eat some fruit?" Rivaille scoffed. "Or TV dinners work just as well. If I'm feeling particularly healthy I might make myself a salad. I haven't touched that thing in months." he pointed at the frying pan Eren had in his hands, testing out its weight. Eren sent him a shocked look.

"You're going to die of a heart attack. I  _wish_  I had had this much space to cook in my old apartment..." he moved around, opening up the refrigerator to peek inside. Rivaille raised an eyebrow.

"Worry about yourself, brat. You know how to cook? I don't care what you do in here as long as you clean up after."

The look he received in turn made Rivaille avert his gaze. He couldn't even recall the last time someone had smiled at him like that-

"You don't have any ingredients."

Rivaille glanced back up, giving him a flat look. "Of course I don't. Why would I keep food around if it would only sit in the fridge and mold?"

Eren's eyebrows furrowed as he continued to stare at him, head poking out from behind the open refrigerator door.

"I can't make meals without ingredients."

Rivaille stared at him, long and hard. Eren's face didn't move a muscle as he stared back, not willing to back down. Finally, Rivaille let out a long sigh.

"... Fine. I'll give you the money, so go buy what you want."

Eyes lighting up again, Eren grinned. "You have to come with."

The other man eyed him. "Why do I need to go?"

"I don't know what you like to eat." noticing the look Rivaille was sending him, he quickly added, "And I don't know where the grocery store is."

They stared at each other again as Rivaille went silent once more, before he finally "tch"'d.

"Go get in my car."

x

Eren and Rivaille were  _very_  different shoppers. That was the first thing he noticed as he watched Eren buzz all around the store, filling up the cart to the point that Rivaille was starting to wonder if they'd need a second one.

He followed behind him, pushing the cart as Eren stalked the aisles like he was on a mission. He had given up on even trying to pick out things, because if he picked something up off the shelf Eren would give it one glance and pick up a different brand.

Even if he seemed like he knew what he was doing, it was irritating.

"Why do you keep doing that?" he finally asked, as Eren put the name-brand cereal he was looking at back on the shelf, only to pick up generic-brand of the exact same kind. "We have enough money, you can buy some damn Captain Crunch Berries if you want."

Eren hesitated for a moment before he answered, tossing the bag into the cart. "It doesn't matter. The off-brand tastes the same anyway."

"How do you  _know_?" Eren was awfully picky about what he put in there, like he had an exact way of picking out the items. Rivaille frowned.

"Oh, that's easy. Here, look:" he grabbed the bag back up, showing the table of contents to Rivaille before grabbing the name-brand box off the shelf as well. "The ingredients are exactly the same. It's all about what cover you slap on the front anyway." he put the box back, continuing forward down the aisle. Rivaille followed.

"But you have to be careful, because not everything is like that." he stopped for a moment, frowning. "Don't  _ever_  buy off-brand cola. Just don't do it."

"I wouldn't anyway." Rivaille grumbled. "Why aren't you this dedicated to your work...?"

"Did you say something?"

His boss rolled his eyes. "Do you have enough ingredients yet? I said you could get some food, not bleed me dry." he asked as they turned onto the spices aisle. Eren nodded.

"Just a few more things, I promise." he grinned inwardly. "You're gonna love dinner."

Rivaille raised an eyebrow at his cockiness. "You better not be making anything weird. I'm picky about what I put in my mouth."

"Oh,  _really_."

That wasn't Eren's voice.

Both men turned around to see a familiar brunette, a smaller blonde at her side. Rivaille narrowed his eyes.

"Christa.  _Ymir_."

She smirked, eying the loaded shopping cart in front of Rivaille. "What's this, planning a romantic dinner?" her eyes darted between the two men's faces as Christa frowned at her.

"What are you going on abou-" Rivaille started, only to be interrupted by Eren's frantic voice.

"No! It's not like that, we just live together n- _Ow_!" a swift kick to his shin shut the younger up. Eren crouched over to rub his stinging leg as Ymir snorted - even  _Christa_  looked somewhat surprised.

"Thanks, but I'll pass on the details." she threw her arm around Christa's shoulder, walking past the other two. Looking back over her shoulder, she grinned. "Don't have  _too_  much fun, now."

" _Ymir_!" Christa's voice was chastising. Ymir ruffled her hair. Just before they left they aisle, Rivaille faintly heard the taller mutter to her companion "I'm totally winning that bet."

Rivaille's lips were pursed so tight they were almost a straight line.

"I'm going to fire all of them."

x

"Okay, it's finally done!" Eren announced, glancing toward Rivaille who was sitting nearby. He had watched him the entire time, from start to finish. The entire two hours.

"About time." Rivaille replied, pointing towards the hand-sanitizer for probably the 12th time. "This is exactly why I don't ever cook."

Sighing, Eren squirted another drop of hand-sanitizer into his palm. "It probably would have been quicker if you didn't make me wash my hands every time I touched something else."

"I don't know where your hands have been-"

"No more masturbation jokes!"

There was an almost-stunned silence as a few moments passed between the two.

"That wasn't where I was going with that at all. Thank you for sharing." the sarcasm oozed out of his voice. Eren groaned.

"Can you just come get the food?"

Eren moved out of the way as Rivaille grabbed a bowl from cabinet and spooned the stew into it. He went and sat back down in front of the kitchen island, using the counter as a table before glancing back up at Eren.

Realizing that he was caught blatantly staring, Eren's eyes snapped up to Rivaille's before darting away again. He turned back toward the pot on the stove, scooping up his own helping of the food before setting it down next to his boss.

If the kid thought he was smooth, he most definitely wasn't. Rivaille mused over the looks he would receive when Eren thought he wasn't paying attention - his sweeping gaze over his neck, down to his collarbone when he was dressed more casually. What was even more blatant was their first encounter... Well, first introduction, anyway. Rivaille was amazed that the kid hadn't popped a boner right then and there, when he had emerged from the bathroom shirtless. His face told Rivaille all he needed to know, though.

He wasn't exactly sure where he was headed, taking him into his house like this.

Pulling the stew-filled spoon up to his lips, Rivaille resisted smirking as he saw Eren watching him out of the corner of his eye. Probably just trying to gauge his reaction to his cooking, but the opportunity was too good to pass up.

He blew softly on the steaming stew, before darting a pink tongue out to test it. Feeling Eren stiffen next to him, he slipped the tip of the spoon into his mouth, slurping at it before  _slowly_  pushing the entire spoon into his mouth.

And then he swallowed, turning to meet Eren's eyes.

His eyes were as big as dinner-plates. Rivaille bit down on his tongue to avoid snickering. What a fucking kid, getting turned on by some stew.

After a few more seconds of staring, Eren seemed to pull himself together. Shifting again, he broke his eyes away from Rivaille's to stare at his own untouched bowl of stew.

"S-So how is it?" the tips of his ears were red.

Honestly, Rivaille hadn't been paying that much attention to the taste. He spooned another spoonful into his mouth-

Wow. Damn, this was actually  _really_  good.

His face must have said it all, because Eren smiled. "It's called Pfefferpotthast. My mom used to make it all the time, before she..." he trailed off, looking down for a moment. "Anyway, I got the recipe from her."

"Where did you learn to cook like this?" Rivaille's curiosity couldn't be masked. He hadn't had food this good since... Since when? Ever?

"Me and my adopted sister lived together by ourselves for most of our lives. She can't cook at all. It's terrifying. Anyway, I picked up the skill from my mom before she passed away."

"I see." he took another bite.

"Better than TV Dinners?"

He received a glare in return.

"... I think I'm gonna put the rest in the fridge, actually. I'm not feeling too hungry at the moment." he shifted off the seat, quickly ducking around to the other side of the island. "It's been a long day."

Rivaille was almost concerned for a moment, before he caught glimpse of something tenting up in Eren's slacks.

Oh he  _had_  to be kidding.

Hadn't he just been talking about his dead mom? If that didn't a kill a boner, he didn't know what would. Eren did his best to hide it as he shuffled about the kitchen, pouring the rest of the stew into a Tupperware container and sticking it in the fridge.

"I'll do the dishes after I take a shower. I'm feeling kind of dirty." Oh he was definitely dirty, all right. Rivaille eyed him the entire way as he scooted out of the kitchen and toward the hallway.

Finishing up the last of his stew, Rivaille sighed. He  _was_  going to do the dishes for him, but not now.

Filthy brat.

x

Rivaille had done that on purpose.

Eren could be a little slow sometimes, especially when it came to other people's advancements, but he wasn't completely oblivious. How could someone make eating  _stew_  erotic?

He turned the shower water a notch colder. He wouldn't give up this fight, oh no.

Two could play at his little game.

Stepping out of the shower, he grabbed the closest towel to dry himself off, just to the point that he wouldn't leave a trail of water everywhere. He pushed his hands through his hair, tousling it up as little bits droplets scattered around the sink, a few landing on the mirror. That might get him in trouble later, but for now he has something much more important to take care of.

As he wrapped the towel around his waist, tucking it in securely to make sure there would be no embarrassing slips, he gave himself a once-over in the mirror.

 _Perfect_.

It was almost painful, wiping the smirk off of his face and replacing it with something more casual. He exited the bathroom nonchalantly, headed toward the kitchen again. No sign of Rivaille so far, but he'd see it.

Might as well get started on the dishes. He whistled cheerfully as he rinsed the dishes, bending over to put them into the dishwasher-

"Jaeger, what the  _hell_  are you doing naked in my kitchen."

He turned around, putting on his best innocent face as he gave Rivaille a full view of his chest. While it wasn't nearly as defined as Rivaille's, it was nothing to sneeze at.

"Oh, sorry sir, but all of my clothes burnt in the fire and I don't have anything to wear."

Rivaille's eye twitched.

Eren turned back around to hide his smirk. He totally had him! He had finally-

"Well, I suppose we can't have you going around without underwear. Would you like to use some of  _mine_? Since we're both  _guys_ , it shouldn't matter."

Eren froze. He hadn't accounted for Rivaille offering his clothes to him. As a matter of fact, Eren wasn't even sure the thought had crossed his mind.

"... You don't mind me using them?" Eren had turned back around in surprise. The other man made a disgusted face at him.

"I have plenty of pairs of boxers. You don't need to give them back."

Eren gaped at him like a fish, opening and closing his mouth. So he wore boxers? No, not the time for this. Finally, he shook his head.

"I- I think I'll just do laundry. Tomorrow I'll go buy some new clothes." he stepped back from the dishwasher, headed back toward the hallway. "I'll go do that now..."

"Like hell you will. Get over here and finish the dishes."

Eren: 0; Rivaille: 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not. Sexual tension is my favorite thing to write. I'm having a hayday over here.
> 
> I cry tears of blood each time I have to describe Christa as "short" because I'm actually shorter than she is. By a couple inches. Yeah.
> 
> I have plans for next chapter. Big plans. Plans most of you will like a lot.


	4. Point of Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: If you came into this fanfic not expecting some sort of office sex, I'm not sure what to tell you.

 

And so began the most painfully wonderful week of Eren's life.

Eren quickly found out it was a  _very_  bad idea to start this war with Rivaille. But at the same time, it just wasn't an option to back down anymore. He was almost positive the two of them were weirding out the other employees. Between the snickers the two got whenever they were anywhere close to each other, and the bits and pieces Eren caught of their hushed whispers, he was able to figure out  _exactly_  what they were betting on.

He didn't know what was more insulting: the fact that they were taking bets on his sex life at all or the fact that there were more bets on the losing side.

He chose to ignore it. Unfortunately, he couldn't ignore everything that was going on in the office. That Thursday Rivaille had announced a "casual-wear Friday", which sounded innocent enough-

Until Rivaille strutted out of the house in the tightest pair of jeans Eren had ever seen in his life.

But it didn't end there, because Eren was stubborn. It wasn't a completely lost war, anyway - Eren had his wins too. Far more subtle though they were thanks to Rivaille's excellent poker face, he seemed to have a weak spot for off-hand comments and innuendos.

The only way you could tell was by the way he averted his gaze, and if Eren was lucky, smiled just the smallest bit.

He was torn. Part of him wanted to demand that they end this right now because he wasn't sure how much more he could take, and the other part of him wanted to continue this until Rivaille was the one who broke first.

Going at this rate, though, that would be a long, long time.

He tongued at the empty plastic water bottle that he was too lazy to throw away as they sat on the dark leather couch in the living room together, Rivaille watching him idly. He looked bored as ever.

Dammit, why didn't these things ever seem to faze him? Eren angrily bit down on the plastic. Rivaille made a face and turned away.

Oh. Maybe he was watching a little closer than he thought.

"By the way. I'm going out tonight, so don't throw any massive parties." Rivaille said, leaning forward. Eren sent him a surprised look.

"Going out? Where?"

"To a place where little kids can't come." he replied, sending Eren an annoyed look. "I'll be back in a couple of hours."

Eren shrugged, turning back toward the TV. It wasn't any of his business what Rivaille did in his spare time. As a matter of fact, that went both ways. Maybe he'd go out, too! He was sure Armin wouldn't mind him stopping by. It'd been awhile since the two of them hung out, Mikasa excluded. He could go for a little bro-time.

He barely glanced up as Rivaille left the house, shutting the door behind him. Grabbing his phone from the side-table, he picked himself up off the couch and headed toward the door himself.

x

"You're such a priss. Drinking wine at a bar!" Hanji mocked Rivaille affectionately as she took another swig of her beer. He rolled his eyes, ignoring the jazzy music playing in the background. As much as he enjoyed this bar for the laid back atmosphere and lack of obnoxious kids, the music was almost intolerable.

"More like cultured."

Even the blond man seated next to Hanji looked rather amused at the other man's drink choice. Hanji's eyes flicked from the wine, to Levi, to finally grin at the blond.

"So, Irvin, have you heard about Rivaille's  _room-mate_?" She smirked at the two from across the round table. "Just thought maybe you'd like to be caught up on what all has happened."

"Room-mate?" Irvin gave Rivaille a curious glance. That was certainly a twist on Rivaille's character. "Are you running low on funds?"

He snorted. "That kid couldn't pay me a penny. Maybe I should start docking his pay, though. Like taking monthly rent out of his paycheck."

"He works for you?" Irvin almost looked concerned. Rivaille waved him off.

"It's not like that, anyway. His apartment burnt down and like the idiot kid he is he didn't have any insurance to cover it. He's moving out as soon as he gets back on his feet."

Hanji snorted obnoxiously, earning a glare from Rivaille. She ignored him.

"Oh, that's cute! You should  _see_  it, Irv. Get those two together in the same room and it's like the air stills." she drummed her her fingers against the table. "Seriously, Rivaille, cut the kid some slack. Blue-balling him like that is gonna be the end of him."

Rivaille shrugged. "I'm not the only one doing it."

"Those pants you were wearing should  _not_  have been legal."

Irvin smiled, amused. Sounds like it was fun back at the office. He was almost beginning to regret leaving the company - but he had his own things to take care of anyway. "How old is this kid?"

"Nineteen? Wipe that look off of your face, Irvin." Rivaille took a sip of his wine. "You too, four-eyes, before I snap those glasses of yours. I'm not making any moves on him until he comes on to me first."

She snorted. "All I'm saying is, one of these days that tension is gonna snap and I  _really_  hope it's not when I'm around."

x

Eren came back late. As late as he could, anyway, before Armin just flat-out kicked him out. Half of him hoped that Rivaille would be there, ready to ask where he had went and why he didn't give any indication that he was leaving.

But despite it being almost midnight, his boss was nowhere to be found. Eren flopped back down on the couch, turning on the TV. He didn't care. Rivaille could stay out as long as he wanted.

... But he'd lay here for the time being. It wasn't like he was tired.

He flipped through the channels idly, amazed by just how many different stations there were. Rivaille scrolled through the guide like there was never anything good on TV, not even stopping to read the titles. He had 900 channels, there  _had_  to be something worth watching. Eren hadn't even known that many different stations existed. It took him almost two weeks just to figure out how to use the remote to do more than turn the volume up and down.

It was jarring, the way he went from being poor to suddenly living like a king. He could cook expensive meals whenever he wanted to. Eren could go into the kitchen  _right now_  and make filet mignon if he so desired. He could wash his clothes without having to pay the laundromat fee.

It was  _amazing_.

Yawning, he stretched out on the couch. There were lots of odd things that just generally made life easier when you had money. At his old apartment, his bathroom was barely big enough to fit a shower, a toilet and a sink. Here, he could soak in the bathroom for so long he'd turn into a prune.

He was pretty sure the master bathroom even had a jacuzzi tub. Maybe he could sneak in there when Rivaille wasn't looking. That'd be a pretty good surprise for this war of theirs. Rivaille, unsuspecting, opens the door to his bathroom to find Eren just casually taking a bath...

Suddenly there was a loud banging noise, and it took a few seconds for Eren's mind to register it as the front door slamming. Had he dozed off? He jerked upright, blinking, just as Rivaille walked into the living room.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, before Rivaille let out a "tch". Even in his half-awake state, Eren could tell that his boss's face was slightly flushed.

"What were you, waiting for me?" his expression was impassive as ever, and in his confusion all Eren managed to mutter was an "Uh,".

Rivaille frowned, walking towards him. "You're like a puppy. Waiting for master to come back home?" he scoffed, not pausing for an answer from Eren this time. He bent over, drawing their faces so close together that Rivaille's lips were a few centimeters from Eren's. He could smell the alcohol on his breath.

Eren froze as Rivaille's lips hovered so close to his. If he wasn't awake before, he definitely was now. The older man's lips parted for a sigh, and he moved his face towards Eren's ear. Now Eren could feel his hot breath right next to his ear, and it made his skin tingle.

"You're shit at playing fetch." he murmured into his ear, before pushing Eren back onto the couch. Eren almost hoped he would pin him down, bite his ear and press those drunken lips to his.

But instead Rivaille shook his head and walked off toward the hallway, leaving Eren confused and worked up.

x

Sunday passed by without incident, other than the three cold showers Eren took in a row before giving up and just relieving it himself. He didn't even know if Rivaille even remembered what happened the night before - not that much happened at all.

Somehow, though, it did feel different. The entire last week was full of nothing but them teasing each other, but what happened last night wasn't the same. They had never been so close, physically  _and_  mentally.

_What did he mean by_ "fetch"?

Eren spent most of the day in the kitchen, trying to cook his confusion away.

Rivaille stayed in his room for almost the entire day, only coming out once or twice to watch some TV and make coffee. Words kept between them were short, and Eren was almost afraid to ask if he could even recall the night before. Regular Rivaille was scary enough, hungover Rivaille could possibly end him.

The most Rivaille said to him that day was when he wandered into the kitchen to ask him "What the fuck he had spent all this time doing?".

"Oh," he glanced down at the bread he was slicing into squares. "Just making mini sandwiches. I thought I'd take them into work tomorrow."

This answer seemed to satisfy the older man, as he grumbled something Eren didn't hear and walked away.

He thought about hanging out with Mikasa and Armin to take his mind off of it instead of slaving away in the kitchen, but if he acted off they'd be suspicious. He didn't feel like explaining anything, not now and  _especially_  not to someone he'd considered a sister growing up with.

So finger sandwiches, mini smoked sausages, and M&M cookies it was.

x

Eren had never received so many compliments in his life. His food was gone instantly, and surprisingly it wasn't just Sasha that came back for more.

"Rivaille really wasn't joking when he talked about your cooking! How can you make  _sandwiches_  taste so good?"

Hanji was back to eat her  _third_  one. Eren grinned sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. "I just experiment a lot. I like the ones with the pimiento best, but the artichoke cheese spread with turkey is pretty good too."

"They're adorable. How long did you spend slicing them up exactly like this?" Christa was standing behind him, holding one of the fruit sandwiches.

"Oh. Maybe 20 minutes for all of them?" he wasn't even sure. He'd basically spent the entire day in the kitchen, so he hadn't payed too much attention to the time.

"Eren." yet another female voice, this time from Sasha. "You are a cooking God, ascended down upon us from delicious heaven.  _I need to know the recipe for these cookies_."

"I-I can write it down?" Sasha mildly disturbed him when it came to food.

While everyone crowded around the food table and Eren, Hanji caught someone staring from the corner of her eye. She turned her head slightly to see Rivaille eying Eren from across the room. With a smirk, she chuckled under her breath.

"Oh, Rivaille! Have you tried these sandwiches? They're  _great_."

He sent her an irritated look, before walking over to where everyone was crowded around Eren.

"Alright. Social time's over, get back to work."

Grumbles of discontent were heard, but everyone did as they were told. As his coworkers cleared out (Sasha stole the entire plate of cookies, he'd have to get that back later), Eren turned around to face Rivaille.

But the man was already headed for the elevator. Eren frowned.

"Ooh, you've done it now." Hanji grinned, reaching over to ruffle his hair. "Better go follow him!"

Eren grimaced. He'd really rather not, but he knew she was right - this was the person he lived with, after all. He needed to go make amends, or apologize, or at least figure out what was wrong.

Splitting from Hanji as she bounced away to go take care of something else, he rode the elevator up to Rivaille's office. Unsurprisingly, he was sitting behind his desk as usual.

He didn't look up as Eren approached the desk, looking apprehensive. He wasn't even sure where to start.

"Jaeger. Don't you have other things to be doing than standing in my office and staring at me?"

The honest answer to that was  _no_ , because Rivaille hadn't given him anything to do. He bit his tongue, though, knowing that pointing that out would only piss the other man off.

"Do you remember Saturday night?" the words tumbled out of his mouth faster than he even realized he was saying them. Rivaille was still focused on the paperwork in front of him as he answered;

"If I was sober enough to drive home without getting pulled over, what do you think?" he stacked the papers neatly on their side before standing up and sticking them in the file cabinet behind his desk.

When he turned back around, Eren was there. A hint of irritation was painted on Rivaille's face as he realized that Eren was blocking the only way out. Trapped between a teen, a wall, a desk and a filing cabinet, he begrudgingly looked up at him.

"You win."

And then Eren's mouth was on his, sloppy and desperate. When Rivaille didn't pull away, the other snaked a hand around through his hair to the back of his head, pushing him in closer to deepen the kiss.

Rivaille saw his chance. Biting roughly at Eren's lower lip, he caught him off guard just long enough to shove him back against the desk. Slamming his hands on either side of Eren, he went back in for another kiss, just long enough to lick up the small bits of blood that had beaded out from where he bit him.

He pulled back away again to examine Eren's face, who still looked slightly dazed from how fast their positions had changed.

"You have no idea what you just got yourself into."

Eren didn't say anything back, already starting to breathe heavily. Rivaille leaned in towards his neck, scraping his teeth against his pulse point. He licked a line from there to his collarbone, blowing a puff of air on it and making a shiver run down Eren's spine.

Gripping the desk so hard his knuckles were white as Rivaille sucked and nipped at his neck, Eren rolled his head to the side to give his boss more room. "Couldn't you do that in a place a little more  _hidden_?" It was sure to leave marks, and Eren was positive Hanji would tease him relentlessly.

"No." the answer came bluntly as Rivaille's hands traveled down the button-up shirt, teasing him through the thin fabric. His hands stopped just above Eren's belt.

"What-?" Eren asked through heavy breaths, squirming under Rivaille's heavy gaze. He was so desperate to get some kind of friction,  _any_  kind of friction, that he arched his hips up toward Rivaille in a needy fashion.

"So impatient..." Rivaille grumbled, dropping down to his knees to unbutton Eren's pants. In a smooth movement both Eren's boxers and slacks were dropped to the ground, erection exposed and plain as day.

Rivaille stared at it. "So what do you want me to do?"

Eren gave him a baffled look. "What do you  _mean_  what do I want you to do?" It seemed obvious enough to him, being exposed just inches from Rivaille on his knees. He was practically shaking with anticipation.

"Better be specific."

Eren groaned. He was gonna be  _that_  asshole, now? Sucking in a breath, Eren looked at Rivaille directly.

"I want you to put your mouth around me. I want you to lick and suck me until I come, and then I want you to swallow."

Rivaille raised an eyebrow at the last part. He didn't expect the kid to have enough guts to say it at all, much less add in details like that. Maybe he was more desperate than he thought.

"Watch me." was all Rivaille said as he expertly licked a trail from the base of Eren's cock to the tip, swiping his tongue over the head.

Eren bit down on his tongue as Rivaille continued to tease him, running his hand along his length and mouthing his balls. It was easier than he expected to keep his eyes trained on Rivaille, watching the way he worked with such precision.

" _Fuck_." Eren hissed out as Rivaille finally, finally put his entire mouth on him. He gave a single suck, just to watch Eren tense up and exhale sharply. "Jesus fucking Christ, Rivaille."

Rivaille grabbed Eren's hips to make sure he wouldn't rut into his mouth, forcing them in place as he took in the rest of the younger male's dick.

Eren released the desk with one hand to bite into it, trying to muffle the sounds coming out of his mouth before anyone became suspicious. Rivaille continued to work his magic, head bobbing up and down as he watched Eren with a certain smugness.

"Rivaille," Eren whined, the name rolling off his tongue between pants and moans. "Fuck, Rivaille,  _fuck_."

He didn't last much longer, the thought of him shirtless and in those too-tight jeans and his hot breath on his ear combined with the current Rivaille on his knees in front of him carrying him to the end. Eren's knees almost buckled underneath him before he caught himself on the desk, watching with fascination as Rivaille pulled away and swallowed it all.

He swiped away a bit that dribbled out, and Eren couldn't hide his amazement.

"You... Really swallowed it." he pointed out between gasps, still trying to catch his breath.

"You really asked me." Rivaille looked disgusted.

Eren allowed himself to crash to the ground, leaning against the desk as Rivaille picked himself up. He glanced over the scene, looking unamused before heading off to the bathroom to rinse his mouth out.

"Wait," Eren called out from behind the desk, peeking around. "What about you?"

Rivaille smirked at him. "Think of this as an IOU. I'll get my payment later, trust me." he turned back towards the bathroom again, before suddenly remembering something.

"After you're done panting on the ground like a dog in heat, clean yourself up. Also..." he threw a glance over his shoulder to eye Eren's neck. "Collared shirts, turtleneck sweaters and scarves are banned in the workplace from now on."

"Hey-!" Eren started, but Rivaille had already disappeared into the bathroom. The brunet flopped back again and groaned, tenderly touching his bruised neck.

Well, at least Ymir would win her bet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: When I wrote M&M cookies I kept misspelling them as "eminem" cookies, and I laughed so hard after that that I had to stop writing for like 20 minutes.
> 
> AH YES I HAVE DELIVERED. I'm really sorry for my pathetic writing skills when it comes to smut. Practice makes perfect?


	5. Overcome by Events

They hadn't been home for ten minutes before Rivaille was on top of Eren, shoving him backward onto the mattress.

"Can I at least take off my shoe-" Eren's weak protest was muffled by Rivaille's lips on his. Hands steady at work to unbutton his shirt, he pulled away only to toss their tops off to the side of the bed somewhere.

Shifting off of Eren to remove his pants, Eren followed suit. He finally managed to slip his shoes off when Rivaille pounced on him again, fisting a hand in his hair and biting Eren's earlobe.

"Ngh-" Damn, that was his weak spot. "W-Wait a second."

Rivaille pulled back again to give him an irritated look. " _What_?"

Frowning at the tone of his voice, Eren squirmed under Rivaille's gaze. "Er, well we just got home, and, can't we pace ourselves a little bit?"

He regretted the words as soon as he said them. The look on Rivaille's face revealed nothing, which was almost worst than if he had rolled his eyes and called him stupid.

"I sucked your dick earlier and you think we're going too fast?" a hint of annoyance flashed through his eyes. Eren looked away and shrugged. With a sigh, Rivaille placed his hands on both sides of Eren's head and leaned down.

This kiss was different from the others that they had shared.

Rivaille's lips moved gently against Eren's, swiping his tongue over the bottom to coax him into opening his mouth. Eren did so on instinct, closing his eyes as teeth very lightly grazed over the spot where Rivaille had bit him earlier. Eren savored the kiss, noting a bit smugly that he tasted suspiciously like the artichoke-cheese sandwiches from earlier.

And he thought Rivaille was the only one to not try them.

Eren was the one to pull away this time, short of breath and panting. "O-Okay."

"You good now?"

"I'm good."

Rivaille moved again, feeling Eren's muscles tighten when he dragged his tongue down the younger's chest. Eren gripped the sheets roughly, shaking with effort to hold back the noises attempting to escape his mouth. His boss sighed.

"We're not at the office anymore, you know. You can moan if you want."

Eren's retort ended up lodged in his throat as Rivaille snaked his hand down to palm Eren through his boxers.

"Ahhn- fucking  _tease_..." he pulled his knee up to rub against Rivaille's crotch as quick payback, relishing in the guttural noise that slipped out of the other man's mouth. Rivaille quickly pushed his leg back down, straddling Eren's hips and grinding.

Both men hissed, Eren letting out a moan. "J-Just hurry up and put it in." he snapped, squirming and desperate for friction. Rivaille snorted.

"Since when do bosses take orders from their employees?" he asked, reaching over to the bedside nightstand for the lube despite his words. Eren whined under him as Rivaille pulled his boxers down, slipping his own off alongside them.

Watching Rivaille squirt the contents of the bottle into his hand, Eren looked away. Rivaille noticed this, leaning forward as he inserted a finger into Eren. His face was just above Eren's, breath ticking his lips. "Don't get shy now, shitty brat."

"I-I'm not!" Eren protested, making a face as Rivaille pressed another finger into him. Using his free hand, Rivaille swept away the bangs clinging to the boy's forehead.

"Sorry." he mumbled softly, working his fingers as Eren squirmed again. Adding one last finger as Eren adjusted, rocking his hips toward Rivaille, he pulled the fingers out and replaced them with the tip of his dick.

Eren shivered in anticipation as Rivaille pushed in slowly, gripping onto his hips hard enough to leave bruises. He jerked up underneath Rivaille, pushing him in the rest of the way and causing the older man to exhale sharply.

"When I said we should pace ourselves I didn't mean go agonizingly slow." he breathed out, the snarky tone of his words lost behind pleasure. Rivaille smirked, rolling his hips against Eren for good measure.

"Ah-... Big words coming from someone writhing underneath me."

Eren breathed out, too caught up to even bother to form a coherent come back. Rivaille leaned down to breathe hotly onto the shell of Eren's ear, moaning the boy's name.

Moving his hands from the sheets to the back of Rivaille's head, Eren knew he wouldn't last long with Rivaille crooning his name over and over again into his ear. He panted shallowly, pulling on Rivaille's hair as the man grabbed his erection and started pumping it.

"Rivaille- Nnf, Rivaille!" he came for the second time that day, making a strangled noise as Rivaille followed, releasing himself into Eren.

He pulled them apart, collapsing next to Eren and making a face at the mess they had made. But his eyes locked on to the rise and fall of Eren's chest as his breathing evened out, covered in sweat. Yawning, Eren let out a contented sigh as he closed his eyes.

"Why aren't you a chef?"

"Hnnnh?" Eren cracked his eyes open a peek at that, giving Rivaille a puzzled look. "Because... I work for you?" he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Rivaille frowned.

"The things you make looks like the stuff off of those cooking competition shows. You could make big money, using that talent."

"Oh." Eren flipped over onto his stomach, closing his eyes and wrapping an arm around the pillow underneath him. "Culinary school's expensive... Not enough money to go."

"Didn't your sister or whatever go to college?"

"Academic scholarships." he smiled almost serenely, and Rivaille stared in amazement of how disarmed he looked. "Once upon a time, though, I wanted to have my own restaurant. Kind of like a childhood dream of mine."

"Oh."

_Oh_ , because he didn't know how else to respond- or why he even asked in this first place. Glancing over, though, Eren looked anything but bothered as he drifted off to sleep with a pleasant look on his face.

Rivaille laid back, shortly following Eren's example.

x

Eren was awoken at 4 AM the next morning to Rivaille pressed to his side, shivering and breathing shallowly. He blinked down at the other in confusion, before realizing-

Rivaille was  _hot_.

And not just in the figurative sense, (although that was also true) but he was literally feverish. He pressed the palm of his hand against Rivaille's forehead, watching as the man stirred in his sleep. He pulled away, noting the sweat that had clung to his hand.

" _Christ_." he muttered, inching off the bed as silently as he could when Rivaille's arm wrapped around his waist. He grunted in protest to the missing heat, and Eren frowned.

"Let me get you a wet washcloth or something to put on your head." Eren whispered, placing his hand on top of Rivaille's hair. "You're burning up. Do you have any cold medicine?"

Rivaille dropped his arms. "'M fine..."

"You're shivering, and I can almost guarantee you have a fever over 100 degrees." He shifted off the bed, headed toward the hallway. "I'll check the bathroom cabinet."

He stumbled through the hallway, blinking in the bright light of the bathroom once he finally found the light-switch. Picking through the various bottles of medicine, Eren frowned when he realized the only fever-reducers he had was some Advil. He sighed, shaking two small pills into his hand before capping the bottle again. Oh well, better than nothing.

Dampening a washrag and filling a small cup with some tap water, he fumbled his way back to the bedroom in the dark again, accidentally stubbing his toe and holding back a painful yelp. Part of the water sloshed out of the cup, hitting his food with a gross splattering noise and Eren prayed that not too much had gotten on the floor. Rivaille would end him if there were water stains on the hardwood.

Making it into the bedroom, he almost panicked when he couldn't see Rivaille's head, before realizing that there was a medium sized bump underneath the covers. He sighed in relief.

"Here." Eren offered the cup and Ibuprofen as Rivaille pulled the covers back, revealing his messy hair and tired eyes that Eren could only barely see from the moonlight filtering in through the window. He watched as Rivaille popped the pills into his mouth, cringing when he had to swallow the water. Colds were bad enough, but colds with sore throats were the worst.

Placing the moist towel on Rivaille's forehead, he hesitated. Did he crawl back in bed? Did he go back to his own room? He was surprised Rivaille hadn't kicked him out right afterward in the first place.

"Would you just lay down already?" Rivaille barked out, his voice hoarse. Eren cringed.

"Uh, here?"

Even if he couldn't see it very well, Eren could sense the glare he was receiving through the dark. He swallowed thickly, laying back down. Rivaille shifted, flipping on his side with his back facing Eren and curling into himself. Eren watched as he started shivering again, the rag slipping off of his forehead.

"Um-"

"Get under the covers." Rivaille snapped, and Eren obeyed, albeit hesitantly. It was already hot enough as-is in the room, not counting the waves coming off of Rivaille's body. But as soon as Eren pulled the covers up, Rivaille had rolled over to his other side to curl up into Eren. Even going as far to tuck his head under the younger's chin. Slowly, slowly, Eren wrapped his arms around Rivaille's smaller body like if he moved too fast he might spook him.

When Rivaille made no attempt to brush him off, Eren relaxed and breathed gently into Rivaille's hair. They both fell asleep for the second time.

x

"You can't go to work today!"

Eren frowned at Rivaille as he exited his room in a suit, looking like utter shit. Rivaille had tossed and turned all this morning, he'd be surprised if the other man had even got three hours of sleep the entire night all together.

"I don' dake orders from you." Rivaille growled, trying to sound as angry as someone who was congested could. He grabbed another tissue and blew into it in an attempt to clear his nose. Eren scowled.

"You don't even have any big meetings or anything today-" he cut himself off, realizing they were just going to go in circles this way. He had to appeal to Rivaille somehow else. "- But, you have one scheduled on Thursday, and if you overwork and make yourself sicker what would you do then?"

Rivaille sniffled, scowling at Eren.

"Go to work anyway."

"What if you got so sick you were bedridden?"

"Go to work anyway."

Eren's eye twitched. "What if you were so sick that you were supposed to be bedridden but you got up to " _go to work anyway_ " and then you passed out during the meeting and they had to postpone it and cost the company thousands of dollars and yourself even more money because you passed out from being dehydrated and they had to take you to the hospital and take an IV,  _all because you wouldn't take your assistant's advice_?"

Rivaille's eyes glazed over. Eren frowned.

"Um, sir?"

"... Sorry, what were we talking about again?"

Eren sighed. Clasping his hands together, he tried to look as sincere as possible. "Please go lay down. I'll call Hanji and tell her you're calling in sick. She can take care of the office for the day."

Rivaille glared at him for a few seconds, before ripping off his tie and throwing it at Eren. "You think you know so much, you cocky fucking brat." he turned around on his heel and stormed back toward his room. Eren sighed in relief.

"You still have to go to work though!" Rivaille grumbled, pausing in the hallway to yell over his shoulder.

"I know, I know. Stop yelling or you'll hurt your voice. Don't forget to drink lots of water!"

And then Rivaille was gone. Eren grabbed his phone and keys, headed out the front door of Rivaille's house to go to work by himself for the first time.

x

The simmering pot raised to a boil as Eren dumped the thawed noodles into it, regretting the fact that he had to use premade ones and not make them from scratch. But he was on a time-limit enough as-is, and this would have to do. Besides, he wasn't even positive that Rivaille would be able to taste it in the first place with his cold.

Turning away from the boiling pot for a moment to chop up the parsley, he caught someone watching him out of the corner of his eye. Whipping around, he saw Rivaille standing by the kitchen entrance with his arms crossed over his chest. Eren gave him a bashful grin.

"What are you doing?" his voice sounded rough. Eren rubbed the back of his head, turning back around to finish chopping the parsley up into fine bits.

"I just took off for lunch break to do this, I swear." he brushed the green bits that clung to the knife onto the cutting board, scooping them up and tossing them into the pot. Rivaille watched him closely, fascinated by the way he so effortlessly threw recipes together.

"Here. It's done, but you might want to let it cool a bit." he spooned the soup into a bowl, placing it on the island where they always ate. "I know you probably don't feel like eating, but you should at least try."

Rivaille narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue in annoyance, but took his seat in front of the island nonetheless. Eren dumped the left-over in a bowl for him, sitting down next to the sick man.

"Feeling any better?"

"I guess." Rivaille replied, spooning the soup into his mouth.

"You look better, anyway. You were really pale this morning. Did your fever break?" Eren slurped up the contents of the bowl, none too dainty with his own cooking. Rivaille scowled at the noise, before turning back to his food and nodding.

"Good! Maybe it's just a 24 hour virus. Armin used to get those all the time, so I'd make this for him." he motioned at the soup. "The horseradish in it helps clear up your sinuses."

Rivaille didn't say anything back, and Eren chalked it up to him having a sore throat. He was digging into the soup though, making Eren irrationally happy for reasons he couldn't explain. Even though he did it everyday, there always seemed to be something special about cooking for the older man.

A thought popped to the front of his mind -  _I hope I don't ever have to move back and give up cooking for him_  - but he quickly pushed it back again. Whatever they were... Friends with benefits? Employee and employer with benefits? Wasn't defined, and he was more willing to blur the lines than to ask to define it and end up screwing this up.

Whatever  _this_  was, anyway.

"Eren."

His head snapped up at Rivaille's voice, and Eren realized from the looking on the other's face that he had caught him brooding. With a grin, he grabbed the back of Rivaille's chair and leaned in to press their lips together.

They finally pulled away a few minutes later, looking flushed. Rivaille scowled.

"If you get sick, it's your own fault."

Eren gave him a cheeky grin.

"I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ending the last chapter with smut and starting this one with it? Ohhh yeah. You're welcome.
> 
> Yeah this chapter is mostly fluff and not a whole lot of plot. I'd say I feel bad about that too, but I'd be lying because wow I do love some fluff.
> 
> Don't worry though, you'll get some plot progression next chapter.
> 
> On another note, this fic has been getting a lot of attention lately? And I really have no words other than thank you guys so much! I don't really think this fic is worthy, but I'm glad you all like it. ;u;


	6. Close of Play

"You're right, Rivaille. This is something else."

Irvin chewed thoughtfully on the chicken casserole. Hanji nodded contently, tapping her nails against the kitchen island counter next to her emptied plate.

"Told you so!" Hanji said, jabbing a fork at the air. "After that day when he brought food into work, Sasha hasn't been the same. The poor thing practically drools when Eren steps into the office." she laughed, turning her attention toward Rivaille. "Hey, Rivaille, what did you want to talk about? You alright?"

Rivaille reached into his coat pocket that was slung across the chair, pulling out a folded, worn out pamphlet. He pushed it across the counter towards the two, Hanji shoveling in another spoonful of her second helping.

"Trost Academy of Culinary Arts? Wow, the one that produces batches of Michelin chefs every year?" Rivaille nodded curtly, and she continued. "I've heard it's pretty prestigious - Oh, Rivaille,  _no_."

She saw right through him. He blinked back blankly at her as she shook her head. "What would you  _do_  without him? He's the first assistant we've gotten that's stuck around and you're trying to send him off!"

Rivaille thrummed his fingers against the countertop, silent. As  _if_  this was an easy decision for him.

Hanji let out a deep sigh."If your decision is final, then there's nothing I can do, is there." it wasn't a question. Irvin cleared his throat.

"Have you talked to the boy about this?"

"If he knows what's good for him, he'll go."

Hanji shifted in the chair, glancing at him from over her glasses. "You're going to pay for it? It's two cities away, you're going to have to pay for a place for him to live, too-"

She cut herself off at Rivaille's flat look. "No, he's going to go on the non-existent money he has now." his voice was laced with sarcasm. "Of course I'm going to pay. For all of it. He's going to have to cut down on the groceries, though."

Irvin tapped his finger on his chin. "Can he enroll during the school year?"

"He starts next semester." Rivaille answered. Hanji fingered the worn and dog-eared corners of the pamphlet. Rivaille must have spent many sleepless nights thumbing through it.

"You sure have done a lot of investigating on his behalf, haven't you?"

Rivaille met her gaze for a few seconds, emotions carefully masked. She smirked, amusement gleaming behind the thick frames of her glasses.

"I knew it."

"You let your imagination get away from you. I'm not fond of seeing someone's dreams fall flat."

"But you  _are_  fond of leaving pretty red marks all over your assistant's neck." She snickered when he had nothing to say back to that. "Eren wouldn't explain when I asked him, but he doesn't need to. You've got the entire office gossiping about it, you know."

Rivaille scoffed. "Oh, is that what I'm paying them to do now?"

A smile snaked its way onto Irvin's normally stoic face as he spoke up. "Something tells me you don't mind, Rivaille."

"He always did like to write his name on what was his."

Opting to ignore their comments, Rivaille continued "He starts in December. He's got two and a half months left." he snagged the flyer back up from off the counter, folding it neatly and tucking it back into his jacket pocket.

Hanji sighed again and laid her head down on the counter. Rivaille rolled his eyes. "Trying as it may be Hanji, not a word of this gets to Eren. Clear?"

She nodded, and suddenly stiffened. All heads snapped to the corridor as a loud thump was heard.

Eren.

Two of the plastic grocery bags lay slack on the marbled tiles and one hung from his fingertips. Rivaille sucked in a silent breath.

"Eavesdropping, brat? And here I thought you were above that."

Eren's grip on the plastic handles tightened. "I was getting some groceries to surprise you. Didn't think you were planning your own surprise, Rivaille." He smiled wryly as his eyes flicked from the blank faces of Hanji and Irvin, then back to Rivaille. "Can we...  _discuss_  this in private?" he licked his dry lips, suddenly cold and clammy. " _Now_?"

With an anxious glance and a polite nod to Eren and Rivaille, Hanji and Irvin scurried out. Eren waited until he heard the door shut behind them before he bent to retrieve the fallen bags, depositing them none too gently on the counter. He slowly turned and leveled a questioning look at Rivaille.

Neither of them said anything for a few moments. Rivaille finally broke through the silence, his face unreadable and calm as always. "Well?"

"Well." Eren repeated, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Planning my life without me?"

"I was informing Hanji that you wouldn't be working at the office much longer." Rivaille answered back simply, straight-faced as always. Eren ground his teeth so hard he thought they would crumble. He could break bone with his bare fist, just like in his childhood fights, just like when he prepared a meal, but he could never shatter that  _damned_  façade of Rivaille's.

"I'm not going."

Rivaille raised an eyebrow at that. "You stupid, brat? You won't even have to pay a cent. What's the problem here?"

"That's a two-year college, right?" he shook his head. "I refuse your offer."

"No one said it was an offer." Rivaille crossed his arms over his chest. Eren stepped closer to him, trying to use his height to his advantage. Rivaille remained unintimidated. "You can refuse to go, but where would you live?"

Eren opened his mouth, shut it, and gaped again like some kind of fish. "You're…kicking me out? Over this?"

When Rivaille chose not to respond, Eren drew his brows together. "Fine! I'm..I'm going to live in my car until I save up enough money. You don't think I'll do it? I will. That's where I'd be without you anyway. I don't  _need_  your help. Or you."

That last part stung a bit.

"It'd be pretty hard to find another job, living in your car and all." despite his narrowed eyes and pursed lips, Rivaille's voice was level. Disbelief flickered through Eren's eyes.

"And on what grounds would you fire me on?" he snapped, getting more irritated by the second. The sweets for the surprise dinner soured in the acidic atmosphere. He could tell that his voice was raising by Rivaille's glances in the neighbors direction.

"Too loud, brat"

" _Let them hear"_

He scowled, switching the topic back. "Office relations are strictly prohibited, Jaeger." Rivaille snapped.

Eren seemed a loss for words at that, the unsaid disbelief written all over his face. He shook his head.

"Unbelievable." he whispered, clenching his hands into fists at his side as he looked down at the ground. Jerking his head back up to meet Rivaille's intense gray, he repeated himself again. "Unbelievable. You're  _such_  a fucking prick, Rivaille!" he was shaking now. "Oh, I mean,  _sir_."

He bit out the last part angrily, hoping it hurt every bit as he meant it to. At the face Rivaille made, it did. Eren smiled inwardly, a twisted sense of achievement at having  _somehow_  squeezed a drop of emotion out of him.

"Why are you so adamant to not do something that will only benefit you?" Rivaille snapped, letting the anger show through this time. "I'm trying to help you. You said you  _wanted_  this"

"Yeah, when I was 13!" Eren slammed his hand on the counter top. "What I want now is-" he cut himself off, taking in a shaky breath.

"... Not relevant." He concluded. "Completely, totally, utterly irrelevant now." he shook his head, backing away and pulling his tie off to toss it on the counter. "God, I'm a real idiot. If you're going to fire me, I quit. Nice knowing you, Rivaille."

And as he turned and walked away, Rivaille held back the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

x

The space in the back of his car was awfully cramped.

He also hoped he didn't get pulled over or questioned for being parked in an abandoned parking lot at 1AM, still in a suit and his dress slacks from work. He wasn't even sure how that conversation would go - " _Yes, officer, I am homeless. And jobless, and broke. No, I am not high, my eyes are red from crying, I just got dumped. Please disregard my outfit._ "

The thought almost made him laugh bitterly. That was kind of pathetic, mocking himself as he slept in the back of his car in a department store parking lot with absolutely nothing because he had lived in someone else's house for the past 3 weeks.

He shifted uncomfortably in the scratchy upholstery of the backseat, curled up into himself.  _This is it Jaeger. Rock bottom. You moved in with your boss and fell in love with him, and somehow deluded yourself into thinking he felt anything for you._

You were greedy, Eren chided himself. If you had been satisfied with anything you wouldn't be out here in the first place. Affection wasn't enough, was it? You wanted your feelings to be reciprocated.

But that was stupid, because he was the employee and Rivaille was the employer and everything he had done had been out of the kindness of his own heart, and lust at the most. Eren wasn't one to be pity-fucked, literally or mentally.

He closed his eyes and tried to think of other things. He could probably stay here until Armin or Mikasa were back at their dorms, unless the police found him. His car needed gas from riding around all day, and he had just enough for a quarter of a tank. If he dropped it a little below that maybe he could afford to grab some poptarts at the gas-station in the morning, too.

With a grunt he sat up and stuck the key in the ignition, turning it enough to start the battery up and play some music. It would click off eventually, and hopefully by that time he'd be asleep.

Of course, some awful pop station was playing. He was too lazy to sit back up and lean forward to seek out a different station, though, so the Top 40 hits it was.

" _We could have had it all~"_

"Fuck this" The radio wasn't going to help either. He snatched his keys back, pocketing them and leaned his head against the window. He was going to have heavy circles for days under his eyes at this rate. Wouldn't that be fun to explain to Armin and Mikasa?

He closed his eyes and yawned. He was going to have to explain the situation to them anyway, should he start at the beginning? Somehow he doubted Mikasa would have a very good reaction to him sleeping with his boss-

A knock from the window across from him broke him from his reverie, but he didn't move a muscle.  _Crap_. The police had found him already? Maybe if he pretended to be asleep they'd leave.

When Eren didn't respond, the banging increased.  _Shit_. Maybe if he pretended he was dead they'd leave him alone.

Suddenly there was shuffling all round the car. The person was futilely trying all the doors to the car, and resumed banging when he found them all locked. Eren swallowed thickly. Was it someone trying to break in? Part of him hoped so, he could use a good fight at the moment - he could kick someone's ass into infinity and teach them a lesson about messing with  _him_.

He slowly opened one eye, only to see Rivaille glaring at him from the other side.

That was an unexpected development.

"Open up, you brat, I can see you're awake." the voice though muffled through the door, rang loud and clear to Eren. He opened his eyes and scowled.

"What do you want?"

Silence, and Eren shut his eyes and hoped maybe he'd go away if he ignored him long enough.

5 seconds passed.

5 minutes passed.

His watched buzzed at midnight and Eren could feel Rivaille's gaze boring into him through the window. He could just  _tell_  he hadn't moved an inch. Exhaling sharply, he raised back up again to give Rivaille a tired glare.

"Are you gonna stand there all night?" No response again. Eren groaned and reached over, flipping the unlock button on the door. "Fine-"

Rivaille flung the door open faster than he had ever seen the other man move before, lunging toward Eren to grab him by the shirt collar. He smacked Eren on the back of his head,  _hard_ , hard enough to make the younger jerk backward and out of Rivaille grasp.

"What the hell!?" he seethed, reaching back to rub the sore area. Rivaille's glare intensified.

"Don't be asking me that question." his voice was low, threatening. "I spent all fucking night looking for you. It's a good thing, too. Do you have any idea what side of town you're on?"

"Of course I know." Eren spat back, feeling way too trapped between Rivaille's body and the car-door for his own comfort. "If anyone wants to mess with me, I can handle them-"

" _I doubt it_. Maybe if it was one-on-one, but the people that come out here at night- They don't play fair." he eyed him. "You're a sitting duck out here. You're lucky it was me and not someone else."

Eren shifted with a frown. Rivaille's voice was strained, something he had never heard before. He opened his mouth to say something back, but cut off when another car pulled up next to them. Rivaille froze.

An older man stepped out of the car - bald and complete with what looked to Eren like a 90s porn 'stache. As the man approached them, Rivaille fisted his hand into Eren's hair and shoved him into the seat.

"Don't say a word." he hissed lowly, before turning his attention back to the man who was now peering into the car.

"Rivaille?"

"Pixis."

Eren glanced up from his position, seeing the man's eyes light up in recognition.

"Why, long time no see. And what are you doing here at this time of night? I don't suppose you're here to return to your old ways." the other man raised an eyebrow, looking amused.

"Hardly." Rivaille replied, keeping his answers short and sweet. He tightened his grip on Eren's hair, forcing Eren to have to bite back a whine. "Just here to rope in a stray of mine."

Pixis's eyes flicked to Eren, who still had his face shoved into the seat. He chuckled lightly, turning his attention back to Rivaille. "I guess I won't ask how the white-collar life is treating you, then." he pulled out a lighter, lighting up the end of a cigarette. "Lucky I was the first one out here. You know what this place is-"

"I remember." Rivaille cut him off, looking up at the man from inside the car. "Is it just you right now? How much time do we have until everyone else comes?"

Pixis grinned, taking a drag off the cigarette and blowing a ring of smoke into the air. "I'd give you five minutes."

Rivaille nodded curtly at the other. "We'll be taking our leave then." he released Eren's hair, shoving him toward the front. "Don't fall more than two car lengths behind me. Take a wrong turn and I'm not responsible." he hissed, stepping out of the car to stand in front of Pixis.

"Thanks."

The older man smiled. "I'd be on my way, if I were you."

And then the door slammed shut, and Eren fumbled his way to the front. Whatever was going on - he was still too tired, too confused to figure it all out - he could sense the urgency in the situation. He watched Rivaille hop into his own car and pull out of the lot, Eren following shortly behind.

He kept his eyes forward, only looking back once to see several people gathering in the parking lot. He swallowed thickly. Was it because of him? That man wasn't an officer, and he seemed to know Rivaille-

There was no way Rivaille was wrapped up in illegal things, though, right?

_Right_?

He shook his head, focusing on following Rivaille turn for turn. He didn't know his way around this side of town, but Rivaille cut through streets to get out of the there like he did it every other day. They finally made it back toward Rivaille's house through a way he didn't even know was possible, circling through residential areas until they were back on the other side of town.

Eren had no idea what to say to him now. He had led him back to his house, but Eren remained rooted outside in the cold night air, pointedly looking at his boots. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

Rivaille stood on the porch and stared at him. Swallowing thickly, Eren climbed out of the car and walked toward him. His anger was unmistakable, even from this far away. Standing next to him, Eren could feel his glare piercing straight through him.

After a few more seconds, Rivaille finally broke away and unlocked the front door. Walking back into the house was almost surreal, after what had taken place a few hours ago. Eren rubbed the top of his head, where Rivaille had gripped him so hard.

"... What  _happened_  out there?"

Rivaille clicked his tongue in annoyance at the question, hanging his keys up on the rack in the kitchen. Timidly following him, Eren eyed him warily and kept his distance.

"Small town boys shouldn't go riding around the big city at night."

"So what are you, some kind of mafia boss?" that earned him another sharp glare, but he continued despite it. "Is that the meeting spot for dog fights or something?"

Rivaille scoffed. Brushing past Eren, he went and sat down on the couch. Eren stayed where he was. "I washed my hands clean of that shit long ago. You're lucky I showed up when I did, or you would have been mincemeat."

"So what was all that!?"

"You have a knack for getting into trouble, don't you? That was Pixis' turf. We're lucky we ran into him first, before the rest of the guys." Rivaille ran a hand through his hair. "You sure are being a shit head, for someone who was nearly killed."

Eren fell silent. Rivaille said nothing, until the younger of the two finally spoke up again.

"... Sorry."

He exhaled sharply, turning his neck so he could see Eren. "Not everyone had someone around for them when they were a kid, alright? I did a lot of things I'm not proud of, but I don't want to see you running your mouth when my connections just saved your ass."

Eren had nothing to say back to that. They stayed like that for awhile, Rivaille sitting on the couch and Eren standing behind it, basking in the silence. Finally, Rivaille stood up and stretched.

"Go and get some sleep. You've got three hours until you have to be awake again to help me set up for the meeting."

Eren's eyebrows drew together. "But I-"

"Good  _night_ , brat."

And that was the end of it.

He retreated into his room and shut the door, leaving Eren in confused silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: This chapter was cowritten with theyellowjumble on tumblr (she can say she only beta'd it but she did a lot more than that)!
> 
> Please don't throw rocks at me for the ending. I swear I'll try and update soon! Yeah I know this chapter was all ~plotplotangstplot~ but I guess I'm making up for the fluff last chapter. ;o


	7. Turn Around Time

The awkwardness was down-right  _suffocating_.

Eren almost dreaded going back into the office, choosing instead to hover around his car with a folder full of papers to deliver back to Rivaille. He leaned back against the hood, eyes gazing up at what little he could see of the sky between the sky-scrapers.

This was probably his fault.

At first, the quiet in the office had been pleasantly peaceful. Initially he thought it was because there was a meeting that day. Everyone seemed wrapped up in their own little world. Eren ran errands, took notes, avoided talking about any sort of culinary schools. There was no boisterous laughter from sales, no angry yelling about bets between the interns. It was kind of nice.

At first.

But one day day of silence dragged into two days, and now it would be the three and things still weren't back to normal.

The office was too close-knit for this. It was almost like a chain reaction - if one person was off, the entire office was off and suddenly work production decreased. It wasn't just an employee problem, though. Hanji was less playful than usual, even Rivaille's dry sense of humor was lacking. The tense atmosphere in the office had spread through like a wildfire, and Eren was almost  _positive_  it had to do with him and Rivaille.

Suddenly, all those companies that had a no-relationships policy made a lot of sense.

But it sure as hell wasn't  _all_  his fault. No matter how Eren looked at it, Rivaille had tried to force the school onto him. He wanted a lover, not a dad.

Still. He had almost gotten into a lot of trouble that night. He knew he owed his life - or at least a few unbroken bones and maybe a not-black eye - to Rivaille, but expressing gratitude to someone that would hardly talk to him was harder than he'd thought.

Running his hand through his hair, Eren paused when the back of his neck prickled. His eyes instinctively snapped up to the top of the building, the exact spot where Rivaille's office was. The tinted windows were impossible to see through, but Eren was pretty sure Rivaille's gaze could pierce through metal if it wanted to. He had felt those eyes on him too many times before to not recognize the sensation.

Sighing, he grabbed the folder and raised up from off his red car hood.

He could  _really_  use a drink.

x

"Who the hell told that brat he could go home early today?"

Grumbling under his breath as he pulled into his driveway, Rivaille glared at Eren's parked car. He had had left without so much as a word, under the premise that he was going to the bathroom.

Well, that must have been one  _mighty_  long shit.

Slamming his car door harder than was probably necessary, he stomped up to the front door and swung it open, not surprised that it was unlocked. Dumb as he might be at times, Eren was always pretty thoughtful.

Except for today, apparently.

"Jaeger!" he instinctively walked toward the kitchen, knowing exactly where the brown-haired kid would be. Predictable to a fault.

" _Rivailleee_."

That was not the response he was expecting.

He almost didn't see Eren, sitting at the island and grinning at him.  _Grinning_. Eren hadn't said three full sentences to him in almost half a week and he was smiling like nothing was wrong at all.

It took about 30 seconds for Rivaille's brain to click together the scene. The empty shotglass next to Eren, the  _Jägermeister_  bottle in front of him-

"Jesus  _Christ_."

Eren nodded in agreement. "Yea _aah_ , shots are gross."

"How many have you had?"

"One. Well, part of one, because I think I spit some out on accident. Shots are gross."

Rivaille sighed. "You said that already." he walked over toward the counter, taking his normal spot next to Eren. "You've only had one so far?" he scoffed. "What a lightweight."

Eren's nose flared in defiance as the older man settled down next to him, something Rivaille noted he always did when angry. "I'm not that drunk! I just feel good.  _Really_  good."

Rivaille narrowed his eyes, scrutinizing his assistant. With a sigh, he moved his hand to place it on top of Eren's head. "Yeah, alright. Just go to slee-"

He was cut off by Eren swatting away his hand, grabbing it and pinning it down to the counter. "Don't tell me what to do!" Seeing the surprised look on Rivaille's face at his outburst, he continued, "I have a sister for that. So don't tell me what to do."

Rivaille's glanced down to where Eren's hand was still covering his own, eyebrows raised. Catching on, Eren snatched his hand back like it was on fire, placing it into his lap and flushing. As if the alcohol didn't make his cheeks red enough on it's own.

"Shit, sorry." he glanced down, clenching his fists in his lap before looking back up to meet Rivaille's gaze. "... Hey, let's play a game."

Rivaille gave him a flat stare, unamusement evident in his face. Eren shook his head, quickly trying to backtrack. "No, like a drinking game. You know, that one, Never Don't I... No, wait... Never Will I... Ever?"

Rivaille sighed. "Never Have I Ever." At Eren's enthusiastic nod, the older man rolled his eyes. "You'll last 3 rounds, throwing back this stuff, Jaeger. Besides, I'm not really in the mood for-"

"Chicken!" Eren interrupted him. "You're just scared! We can water it down. Unless you're too  _scared_  to do it."

Rivaille pinched the bridge of his nose. "Jaeger, you do not want to be in a drinking game with me."

"I think I do."

Thrumming his fingers against the counter, Rivaille stared at Eren. The younger held his gaze boldly.

After a few seconds of the two just staring at each other, Rivaille looked away with a sigh.

"I swear to god, Eren, you are going into work tomorrow no matter  _how_  bad your hangover is."

x

Sucking in a breath as he looked at all the shot glasses filled with a combination of  _Jägermeister_  and water, Eren grabbed one and set it in front of him.

"I'll go first." he exhaled sharply, trying to focus through the buzz. "Um... Never have I ever... Sucked someone off?"

" _Jaeger_."

"Okay, sorry, that was a cheap shot." he grinned bashfully at Rivaille's glare. "Never have I ever had sex in a car."

With a sigh, Rivaille picked up the shot in front of him and tipped it back into his mouth. Eren laughed.

"I knew it! It's because you're so small-" he stopped mid-sentence, noticing the glare on Rivaille's face. "... Never mind. Your turn."

"Never have I ever gone a week without showering."

The face Rivaille made could be called nothing short of horrified as he watched Eren pick up the drink and throw it back. "You're disgusting."

Eren frowned with a shrug. "Middle school was a bad time for everyone. Okay, Never have I ever..." he paused, clicking his tongue before grinning. "Been to a gay bar!"

Rolling his eyes, Rivaille picked up another shot. He made a face this time as he pulled away. "I didn't put enough water in that one."

"You don't like  _Jäger_?" Eren tipped his head. It was the only liquor he found in the house, so he just assumed it was Rivaille's favorite.

"Not by itself." he paused for a moment. "Never have I ever been in the ocean."

Eren smiled. "Never! Never have I ever... Been a bottom."

Rivaille gave him a flat look. "It isn't called Never Have I Ever  _Not_ , brat. You don't even know how to play the game."

"Fine, I'll take a shot too then. I was just curious." his picked up a shot glass, eyes widening when Rivaille snatched it out of his hand and finished it off.

" _Really_? S-So does that mean I can-"

" _No_." Rivaille cut him off before he could even ask the question. Eren's face fell. "... Maybe someday. When you actually know what the fuck you're doing."

Eren nodded, grabbing a shot to throw back himself. He set it back down and wiped his mouth, before looking confused.

"Who's turn is it now?"

Rivaille blinked. "Yours. No, wait. Mine?" he shrugged. "I don't care, just go."

"Never have I ever been in a gang."

Rivaille hesitated, hand stilling. "Fucking brat... Is this about what happened the other night?"

Eren nodded, looking sheepish. With a sigh, Rivaille reached toward the drinks.

"I guess, in a way. When you're a kid on the streets, you take the family you can get." Finishing the drink, he noticed Eren's face and quickly added, "It's not like you're in any danger or anything, so stop worrying about it. I told you I wiped my hands clean of all that."

Suddenly finding his hands more interesting, Eren looked down as he spoke. "I wasn't really..." he cleared his throat, glancing back up at Rivaille. "... How did you go from the streets to owning a company?"

"Irvin and Hanji." Rivaille sucked in a breath, eyes going unfocused for a second. Eren bit his lower lip, trying to focus through his alcohol muddled brain. Irvin? It sounded familiar, but he couldn't really place a face to the name. Seeing Eren's confusion, Rivaille clarified for him, "Irvin's the blond guy that was sitting in here that day you threw your hissy fit."

Eren winced at that.  _Hissy fit_. Choosing to ignore his wording, he tipped his head slightly. "Why doesn't Irvin work there anymore?"

Rivaille was silent for a moment, giving Eren a hard stare. "It's my turn. Never have I ever said I loved someone and didn't mean it."

Eren scrunched his nose up, bothered by the way Rivaille had brushed off his question. He opened his mouth to comment, but despite his muddled brain he knew Rivaille well enough to know he wouldn't get a straight answer anyway. With a sigh, he stared at the shot-glass in front of him.

"Never."

The older man made no comment, no facial expression to give away what he was thinking. Eren licked his lips dryly.

"Never have I ever said I loved you to anyone, period."

This time Rivaille raised an eyebrow, grabbing one of the few remaining shot-glasses. Eren pursed his lips as he watched the drink disappear into the other's mouth. "Was it Irvin?"

Rivaille's silence gave him his answer. Eren nodded, looking down and then back up. "So why aren't you still together?"

This time he got more of a reaction from the normally-stoic man as Rivaille rolled his eyes, frowning. "If you're expecting some big sob story, you're going to be disappointed. Life happened, circumstances changed and he left the company to do his own thing. It was a clean break-up, if you have to know."

"How long were you together?"

Rivaille's eyebrow twitched.

"What is this, 20 fucking questions?" Eren bit his lip, and Rivaille continued, "Are you insecure or something? That's 3 years in the past, Eren." he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Christ..."

"Sorry. I was just curious." Eren ducked his gaze away from Rivaille's again, choosing to focus on a bit of the wall just above his head. They sat, quietly, before Eren spoke up again.

"Hey, Rivaille, I-" he cut himself off, looking uncertain and shaking his head. Starting over, he asked, "Why... Do you want to send me away so badly?

Rivaille clicked his tongue in annoyance, noting that Eren was still avoiding his gaze. He glanced to the forgotten shot-glasses on the table, before refocusing on the boy in front of him.

"Something tells me it's the same reason you don't want to go."

Eren's eyes widened as he snapped them back to Rivaille's, but now it was his turn to look elsewhere.

Rivaille knew it was something close to it, anyway. It was the risk he took, taking the young adult under his wing and into his home - especially when they started sharing meals, a bed,  _lives_.

And if he said he minded the risk at all and what had come of it, then he'd be a liar.

"R..eally?" Nothing but disbelief dripped from Eren's voice as he tried to figure out if he had heard correctly, or if in his drunken state he was just assuming what he wanted to. Rivaille narrowed his eyes dangerously.

"If you have something to say, I'd suggest you spit it out."

Eren swallowed. Now or never, right?

"I... Love you."

It came out barely above a whisper, much softer than he had intended it. Rivaille's face didn't move, but gray eyes slid sideways to meet Eren's again. Something unreadable flickered behind the orbs and Eren tried again.

"I love you." this time it was louder, and he leaned closer to Rivaille, a smile having wormed it's way onto his face. "I love you, I love you, I lov- _umf_!"

His confession was cut short by Rivaille grabbing his tie and jerking him forward, closing the gap between their faces and crushing their lips together. On instinct, Eren parted his lips, savoring in the taste of alcohol and Rivaille.

The kiss ended as abruptly as it was initiated, Rivaille pulling away and looking flushed. Eren revelled at the sight.

"The feelings mutual."

A grin plastered itself onto Eren's face, but after a pause his gaze hardened. "... So say it."

"What?"

" _Say_  it."

Rivaille's gaze narrowed again, eying Eren in front of him. He slowly leaned in, so close that their lips were just  _barely_  brushing, and whispered,

"I love you too."

Before he could move back again, Eren pressed their lips together. Smiling into the kiss, he wrapped his arms around Rivaille's waist and shoved his head into the crook of the other's neck, humming contentedly. Rivaille groaned, but rested his head on Eren's anyway.

"God, you're a clingy drunk, aren't you?"

"Maybe." he paused, before adding, "I'll go to that college. As long as I get to come back and visit. Every weekend."

" _Every_  weekend?"

"Yeah," he breathed against his neck, making Rivaille shiver. "And every holiday. And I want to Facetime a lot. Everyday."

"You're drunk."

"Mhmm."

They stayed like that, Eren wrapped around Rivaille, sitting at the island counter with nothing but their breathing to fill the comfortable silence.

Until Rivaille noticed that Eren's breaths were a little  _too_  even.

Shifting slightly to get a better look at him, Rivaille frowned when he didn't move. "Eren?"

He was met by a loud snore. Rivaille groaned, but the corners of his lips twitched upward despite himself.

"Shitty fucking kid. You better remember every damn word of this conversation tomorrow."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: (heavy breathing)
> 
> This chapter had the CHEESIEST PARTS IN IT and I've never been so happy. It was done last night and ready to post, but I wanted to wait until today so I could go back over it just in case.
> 
> So! If everything goes as planned, this fic will end at exactly 10 chapters. Which is very bittersweet to me, because it means letting go of another one of my fic babies. On the other hand, I already have something new planned out...
> 
> On the bright side, if anyone's actually sad this fic will be ending soon, I've gotten pretty attached to this little 'verse I've created, so there's a high chance I might make little companion (?) oneshots in the same AU. There's a lot of stuff that I wanted to expand on more that I just don't think I'll be able to stuff in without disrupting the flow, so I guess it's a good way to deal with that.
> 
> I don't even know if anyone would be interested in reading them, but that probably won't stop me from writing them anyway because I accidentally got attached to this silly imaginary world I created.
> 
> OKAY normally I try and keep my A/Ns short and sweet but I thought I'd throw all that out there. Thanks for reading as always!


	8. Month Ending

_- **Two mon** **ths and one week remaining**_

Eren was freaking out.

Freaking out because he was in bed, nothing but boxers on, and it was physically impossible for him to be pressed any closer against Rivaille without some form of copulation going on.

There could be worse things to be worried about. In the back of his mind, some part of him was acknowledging this. However...

His memory of last night was blurry. He had a few specific memories - exchanging those Big Three Words ( _I love you too I love you too I love you too I love you too_ , Eren was glad he at least remembered that so he could replay it in his mind), the drinking game, the confessions that came with the drinking game, falling asleep in the kitchen in Rivaille's arms.

But he was almost certain that there was a conversation that he couldn't quite bring to the front of his mind, like it was nagging at him from his subconscious.

What bothered him the most though was that he had no fucking clue how he got in Rivaille's bed. Did he carry Eren here? Did Eren slip in after Rivaille fell asleep?  _Did they have mind-blowing make-up sex and Eren couldn't even remember it_?

He shifted slightly, daring to sit up. No, he'd be more sore this morning if that were the case. Unless- _he did remember a conversation about him topping last night-!_

"What kind of fucking expression is  _that_?"

Rivaille's voice came from the right side of the bed, jerking Eren out of his train of thought. He met the other man's unamused stare before trailing down, noticing that Rivaille was still fully dressed. He frowned.

"Why am I almost-naked?"

Rivaille shrugged out of his pajamas, pulling on his outfit that was already neatly laid out. Eren almost laughed at how meticulous the man was, even when drunk. The other scoffed.

"You tell me." he said, pulling his pants off and ignoring the way Eren was blatantly ogling him. "You're the one stripping in your sleep. Remind me to not let you fall asleep when you're drunk, by the way. You're even more restless than when you're sober."

Eren's gaze dropped down to his hands, curled up in his lap on the bed. "Oh. So we didn't-you know...  _Do_  anything?"

Rivaille paused as he pulled his pants up, turning around to stare flatly at the younger.

"What are you,  _twelve_?" he sighed, before adding, "No, we didn't  _"do anything_ ". Do you not remember at all?"

Eren didn't miss the hint of upset in his voice, the way it raised just a tiny bit, hidden under layers of indifference. He shook his head vigorously, quickly trying to backtrack.

"No, no, no! I remember! Almost all of it, I think, anyway." Rivaille simply stared at him, so Eren continued, "I remember... The drinking game, finding out stuff about you, saying- saying- you  _know_. And then falling asleep. In your arms."

The older still looked skeptical. "And between the  _I love yous_  and the drooling on me like an overgrown baby?"

Eren paled.

"There was something between that?"

Clicking his tongue as he watched Eren sink into himself, Rivaille leaned closer toward him. "I think a promise is still a promise, right?"

Before Eren could reply, Rivaille's lips were on his neck. Pushing Eren gently backward onto the bed, he laced their fingers together and pressed slow, sweet kisses across the tanner skin.

"What's gotten into  _you_?" Eren whispered, letting out a content sigh when Rivaille brushed his teeth over his clavicle. Turning his head to the side to give his lover better access, his eyes landed on the clock sitting atop the nightstand.

11:00AM.

Jumping forward with enough force to knock Rivaille backward, Eren barely avoided sending both of them toppling off the bed. Their foreheads knocked together before Rivaille went stumbling backward, confusion and anger etched onto his face.

"What the  _fuck_?"

Eren ignored him, diving off of the bed in a mad search for his clothes, or  _any_  clothes in a fit of desperation. "It's 11-Oh shit, Rivaille, we're so late-"

"Eren-"

"We're four hours late, holy shit, has Hanji called? Crap where's my phone-"

" _Eren_ -"

"No! This outfit's wrinkled and I haven't done laundry shit  _shit_  what am I going to-"

"Eren!"

He finally froze, recognizing that tone of voice. Eren glanced up slowly as Rivaille's face darkened, shooting him a glare enough to kill.

"I already called and said we'd be in later, if at all." he growled, rubbing his forehead. Eren frowned.

"... Why?" he pushed himself off of the floor to stand, now looking down at Rivaille. "If it's because you think I'm hungover - I feel mostly okay, I think, my head hurts a little bit but that could just be... de... hydration.." he trailed off as Rivaille's glare intensified, much to Eren's amazement. People could say all they wanted about how little emotion the man showed, but Rivaille's anger was by far the most dynamic of all his expressions.

"If that was the reason, I'd give you double the workload to teach you a lesson on underage drinking." he pursed his lips. "But we have errands to run."

" _Errands_?" Eren repeated the word like it was foreign, sending Rivaille a baffled look. Any errands he always ran by himself. Rivaille nodded.

"Errands. You agreed to something last night, and we're running short on time so we might as well get a head-start now. We're going shopping."

"For  _what_?"

"College dorm shit, because you sure as hell aren't taking  _my_  furniture."

- _ **Two months remaining**_

" _College_?"

Armin and Mikasa's reaction was almost entirely identical, even being  _said_  at the same time. Eren grinned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Yeah... I know I said college wasn't my thing, but this is a culinary institute." he explained, scanning the crowd around the food court. Mikasa opened her mouth to speak as Eren continued, "And before you say anything about the cost, I don't have to worry about that. It's covered."

Suspicion sparked through her dark eyes. " _Covered_?"

"Someone's paying for it, Mikasa!" he sighed as her eyes narrowed even further. Great. He felt bad enough about not telling them what was going on with him and Rivaille, but he didn't want to say anything until he knew what was going on in the first place-plus, they were always so busy with their own lives that it seemed unfair to bother them with his. He sucked in a breath.

"Rivaille, my b... boy...  _boss_  is paying for it." Eren finished, crossing his arms in front of him. He was feeling ridiculously defensive. His face must have reflected that, because Armin smiled awkwardly.

"That's.. Great, Eren! College is hard, but if you need any help with anything, you know you can always ask..."

"Thanks, Armin."

Mikasa was still staring him down across the table, lips drawn in a fine line. Eren held her gaze boldly, until she finally frowned.

"You have a sugar-daddy. Eren..."

He probably would have been mad at the chastising tone in her voice if he hadn't been so busy choking over the first part of that sentence.

" _What_?" Mikasa raised an eyebrow, so he continued, "No, no, you've got it wrong-"

"He's older than you, right?" she cut him off. Eren frowned.

"Yeah, but that doesn't have-"

"He's richer than you."

"I- Yeah, but-"

"He buys you stuff, and you live in his house."

"My house burnt down!"

She sent him a flat look.

" _And_  you're having sex with him?"

"That's- That's none of your business!" he sputtered. Mikasa shot a glance at Armin, who looked like he was experiencing enough second-hand embarrassment to throw himself off a bridge. "You've got it all wrong. Just... Let me start from the beginning."

And he did. He explained, from start to finish, what they had missed out on-how he and Rivaille were a thing, and then not a thing, and then he nearly died, and then was rescued like some princess in distress. The college talk, the drinking game, the promise he apparently made.

Mikasa said nothing the entire time, thrumming her fingers against the cheap plastic table. Armin listened carefully, smiling slightly when Eren finished.

"I'm happy for you." the blonde said, resting his head in the palm of his hand. "I wish you would have told us earlier, but..."

Eren nodded. "I feel bad. But I didn't want to bother you guys about it, especially when I didn't know what was going on." he glanced toward the dark-haired girl, who still had her lips pursed. "Mikasa?"

"I don't like that he's an ex-thug." her eyes were narrowed dangerously. "Sounds suspicious. Are you  _sure_  that's just a travel agency?"

"I think I would have noticed anything weird by now." Eren replied. "And I didn't figure you'd like that, but I guess that's why it's my life and not yours."

She opened her mouth to retort, before shutting it and looking down. After a few seconds passed, she looked back up again, the smallest of smiles on her lips.

"I guess you're right. I tend to forget we're  _both_  adults now." her face returned to normal as she added, "I still want to meet him."

Eren swallowed thickly. "I'll... Talk to him about that."

"Good."

-  _ **One month and two weeks remaining**_

" _None_  of you worthless shits can think of any decent catering place?" Rivaille growled at the employees, seated around the meeting room desk. Hanji sighed.

"We've been brainstorming for an hour, now, Rivaille. He's going to be back soon, and  _you're_  the one who keeps shutting down all the suggestions." there was a murmur of agreement at her words. He scowled.

"I just sent him two more errands to run, all the way on the other side of town. We still have a good hour." he snapped. "And  _maybe_  I wouldn't be turning down all the suggestions if you guys could come up with something better than Subway. We're throwing a good-bye party for a chef, not Jared Fogle."

Ymir groaned from across the table. "I seriously fucking doubt Eren's already enough of a prick to complain about some pizza, or something. I know he's been hanging out with you a lot, but I don't think he's picked up the trait  _that_  fast."

He scowled, choosing to ignore her. "Have we really exhausted all of our options? Stop acting like this is such a pain in the ass, all you guys do around the office is fuck off anyway." he shot a look in Sasha's direction, glaring as she munched on another pretzel.

"Um," she started, all eyes on her. Tucking away the pretzel bag neatly between her legs, she tapped her chin. "I think Eren should make it!"

There was a dumbfounded silence across the room, until Ymir laughed loud enough to break through it.

" _Seriously_ , Sasha?" she laughed again, only cutting off when Christa kicked her under the table. " _Ow_! What was that for?"

"Shh." the short blonde glared at her, before turning her attention back to the other girl. "Sasha, I don't think that could really... Work." she smiled sweetly. "We're trying to throw the party  _for_  him."

"I know!" Sasha replied, with a quick nod. "But if he doesn't know about it, we could just say it's for someone's birthday."

Silence fell on the room again, until Reiner finally spoke up. "That's... Actually a really good idea."

Hanji clapped her hands together. "Sasha, you're a  _genius_! We get great food,  _and_  it's still a surprise!" she turned toward Rivaille, hopefulness sparkling in her eyes. "What do you think?"

He looked thoughtful for a second, before locking eyes with Sasha across the table.

"Remind me to give you a raise."

Applause erupted around the table as Sasha grinned bashfully. Rivaille cleared his throat loudly as it finally died down, calling everyone's attention back.

"One more order of business. We all need to be on the same page if this is going to work. Who's birthday?"

Connie piped up this time. "Bertholdt's? Eren doesn't know him very well, so he wouldn't know any different."

Another murmur of agreement went across the table. Bertholdt only looked mildly uncomfortable, which wasn't too far from normal anyway so Rivaille figured it was fine. Nodding, he stood up from his chair.

"Alright. Meeting dismissed."

-  _ **One month remaining**_

"Mmmm." Eren hummed contentedly against Rivaille's mouth, savoring in the taste of his own cooking from earlier. That always seemed to please him. Finally, Rivaille broke the kiss to glance at the TV before shoving Eren off of him.

"CSI's back on. Get off."

Eren whined, but allowed himself to be pushed off. He fell backward onto the couch, laying down and blinking up at the ceiling.

"We have a month left and you're choosing CSI over  _me_."

He meant it to come out in a teasing way, but somehow hurt had laced itself into the words, giving them a different effect than intended. Rivaille glanced over at him, eyebrows drawn, before picking up the remote and pausing the TV.

"Okay, what's wrong."

Eren sat up on the couch, legs crossed in front of him. "Nothing's wrong. I was just kidding. Seriously."

"Oh, you added " _seriously_ " onto the end of your sentence, I'm so convinced." Rivaille gave him a flat look. "Something must be wrong because you're being clingy and you're doing it during my CSI time, which is very important to my mental health. Which you know. So talk."

Eren shifted uncomfortably.

"Mikasa and Armin want to meet you."

Rivaille blinked.

"That's it?"

He nodded.

"I think they think you're my sugar-daddy."

Eren actually got a laugh out of that one. Rivaille shook his head. "I take it you told them you're going to college, then?"

"Of course I did. They'd freak out if they learned I suddenly moved off."

Rivaille clicked his tongue thoughtfully for a moment, before nodding. "Alright, in a few weeks we're celebrating Bertholdt's birthday. More than just the office is allowed to come, so tell them they're welcome to come."

Eren scrunched his nose up. "To Bertholdt's birthday? That's kind of-"

"It's fine." Rivaille cut him off, eyebrow twitching. "He doesn't mind, and I can meet them there because I'm sure as hell not going to go hang out with a bunch of college brats."

"Alright, I guess." Eren frowned. "Do they need to bring a present or something? Because-"

" _No_. It's just a little get-together." he reached for the remote again. "Was that all? Because I have a TV show to get back to."

"Yeah, that's all." he said, scooting a little closer to Rivaille. The older man sighed, pressing play on the remote and allowing Eren to lean his head on him.  _Clearly_  that wasn't the only thing chewing at Eren, but he'd let it go for now. It was probably just nerves about college anyway.

-  _ **Two weeks remaining**_

Eren wiped away the sweat from his forehead, sending a quick glance to make sure Rivaille wasn't watching. He frowned when he saw that he was sitting at the counter, reading the news on his iPad.

"You should help me out with this."

Why  _he_  was even told to make all the food for this party tomorrow, he had no idea. It was basically assigned to him-with Rivaille telling him he had no choice but to do it. At the rate he was going, there was no way he'd be able to go to sleep at a decent time tonight and get all of this done.

Rivaille glanced up, raising an eyebrow. "You're asking me to cook? Eren, the last thing I  _cooked_  was toast." he watched as Eren frowned even more, and with a sigh he clicked off his iPad. "What?"

"What are you going to do when I'm gone?"

"Lay in bed and cry every night, because my world absolutely revolves around you."

"I meant for  _food._ " Eren replied, irritated. "You can't go back to that gross microwave crap."

And  _yeah_ , Rivaille had thought about it before and realized that going back it really would taste like crap.  _Especially_  going from Eren's cooking back to  _Marie Callender's_.

He shrugged.

"I'll figure something out."

Eren's eyes narrowed, not budging at all. Rivaille stared back blankly.

"It's never too late to learn to cook."

Rivaille scoffed. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks, Eren."

"That old dog isn't going to live much longer if it continues to put high-processed trans fats into it's body." he stated. "Just come help me make the mini-burgers, okay? I'm not going to have these done by tomorrow if you don't."

Rivaille stared at Eren for a few seconds before sighing.

Eren's eyes lit up as Rivaille moved toward him. Pushing a pan with  _very small_  hamburgers laid out on it toward the older man, he started. "Okay, this is a mixture of hamburger, onions, and breadcrumbs. You can make regular burgers out of this too, but we're making a bunch of really tiny ones. See that grill there?" he pointed to a flat grill sitting on top of the counter. "I need you to put these on there and grill them until they're done. It's the easiest thing ever."

Rivaille raised an eyebrow. "I have no clue how to tell if when these things are done."

Eren waved him off, grabbing one of the patties and tossing it on the grill. It sizzled as it made contact. "It's really simple. When it's brown, it's done. Don't burn them though. And don't forget to flip them." he reached over and grabbed a spatula, tossing it at him. Rivaille caught it and gave him a skeptical look.

"It'll be fine! Trust me."

x

Two hours later it was  _not_  fine.

Rivaille had somehow managed to burn  _six_  of the patties, catching one of them on fire. In the rush to put out the flames, Eren dropped a bag of flour and completely coated the kitchen in the white powder. The place was a mess, Rivaille was pissed, and Eren  _couldn't stop laughing_.

"Stop looking so upset." he said, trying to console a very bitter Rivaille. "I mean, it was a pretty good start."

"Eren, you're not making this any better."

"At least you look good covered in white stuff."

" _Eren_."

So they struck a deal: Eren would continue with the cooking, Rivaille could clean up the kitchen after.

In the end, he had completed the menu. Beef and chicken sliders, mini lobster rolls, toasted almonds, and chicken pizza bites. Rivaille had scrubbed the kitchen from top to bottom-it was cleaner  _now_  than it had been before.

Eren flopped back in a chair, exhausted, watching as Rivaille finished up the last of the dishes.

"Eren, you like all of this stuff you made. Right?"

Rivaille was facing him now, drying off a cup. Eren nodded, looking confused.

"Yeah, I like most of it. Almonds are kind of gross though." he cocked his head. "Why?"

"No reason." before he could ask any more questions, Rivaille added, "Now go to bed. I'll be there pretty soon."

Eren yawned. "Alright, whatever." Something didn't quite add up about the party tomorrow, but he was too tired to question it now. "Night, Rivaille."

"Goodnight, Eren."

x

The preparations were complete. Rivaille had carried the food out before Eren woke up, everyone (excluding Eren's friends, who were supposed to arrive later) was there, and there was a huge banner that hung across the office lobby that read "GOOD LUCK EREN". Hanji and Sasha even picked up an ice-cream cake on the way here.

The only thing that was missing was Eren himself.

He had sent him off earlier to go mail a letter, specifically informing him to go to the post office  _across town_. The only text he received in reply was "?", but considering he still wasn't back it was a pretty safe bet that the brat had done what he had told him to.

Just as he was getting ready to text Eren and tell him to hurry the fuck up, he recieved a text message:

"just picked up armin and mikasa. it took me forever to find the stupid post office you were talking about. on my way to the office now."

He'd never admit it, but he hadn't been this excited in a long time. Clearing his throat to catch everyone's attention, he announced loudly:

"Alright, everyone, he's on his way. Places!"

There was a scramble as all the office workers ran to find a hiding spot, ducking under chairs and behind desks. Rivaille himself slipped into a dark corner, turning off the lights and praying that this all went according to plan.

There was complete and total silence for a few minutes, until he finally heard car-doors shutting outside. He sucked in a deep breath, waiting as the door opened. Counting under his breath, " _One, two, three._.."

Rivaille flipped on the lights just as everyone popped out of their hiding spaces.

" _Surprise_!"

They weren't all together (not even close), but the look on Eren's face couldn't have been any better.

Hanji wormed her way out from under the desk first, bouncing over to Eren and hugging him with enough force to knock him over. He barely avoided tumbling to the ground by bracing himself when he saw her coming, stumbling backward as she wrapped her arms around him.

"We're gonna miss you  _so much!_ "

His face went from shocked to uncomfortable, patting her back gently. "I-I'll miss you too, Hanji, but I'll come back sometimes..." his eyes snapped up to Rivaille's, silently mouthing " _help me_ ". Rivaille smirked.

"Hanji."

She released him almost instantly, whipping around to see Rivaille standing just behind her. She grinned, putting her hands up in mock-defeat.

"Oops. Sorry, didn't mean to occupy your  _boyfriend_." she winked at him, before chuckling to herself and walking away. Eren coughed awkwardly, before glancing back up.

"Oh, right. Mikasa, Rivaille." he pointed to the dark-haired girl on his right. "Rivaille, Mikasa."

He sized up the girl, who looked like she was doing the same to him. Eren cleared his throat, calling the attention back to himself. Pointing to a blond on his left, he said, "Armin, Rivaille. Rivaille, Armin."

"Nice to meet you." Armin extended his hand, smiling when Rivaille shook it.

"Pleasure." he turned toward Mikasa, raising an eyebrow at her. "And to you too. I've heard enough about you, anyway."

This seemed to catch her off-guard, eyes widening in temporary surprise before returning to their suspicious gaze. "Likewise."

Sensing trouble, Eren grabbed Mikasa and tugged her forward. "Hey, let me introduce you guys to everyone else!"

Just before they walked in Sasha's direction, Eren turned around to whisper to Rivaille, "I can't believe you made me spend 6 hours making food for my  _own_  party."

Rivaille smirked, watching as he dragged Mikasa and Armin across the room to greet everyone.

x

A few minutes later he was sitting off by himself, watching as everyone mingled (and gushed over just how  _amazing_  Eren's food was) when he felt a very intense pair of eyes watching him. Turning around, he was unsurprised to see Mikasa had managed to sneak away from Eren. He raised an eyebrow.

"To what do I owe this pleasure."

Narrowing her eyes at the statement disguised as a question, she cut straight to the chase.

"Eren really likes you. And I don't know how you feel, as far as he goes-I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you feel the same because you're going so far out of your way to do all this stuff for him. But as his sister, I'm obliged to tell you that if you hurt him I'm going to break your nose."

"Noted. Though normally when he gets hurt it's because he was doing something stupid himself." Rivaille replied, noting how her nostrils flared in indignation at his words. They definitely  _were_  brother and sister, all right.

"He does stupid things all the time. But now it's  _your_  job to keep him from doing those stupid things." her eyes flashed dangerously, letting him know just how serious she was about this. "So let me restate: if you hurt him, or if you don't stop him from getting hurt, I'm going to break your nose."

He smiled despite himself, extending his hand. "Fair deal."

She accepted it, not breaking eye contact. "You'd better hope it is."

-  _ **One day remaining**_

"You have everything packed?"

"Yeah." Eren collapsed on the couch, tired from all the packing and loading. Of  _course_  Rivaille wanted to be there first thing in the morning.

On the bright side, at least he wouldn't have any last second preparations to do.

Crawling over to the other man, Eren pressed their lips together. Smiling into the kiss, he pulled away and shoved his face into the other's neck.

"You're more receptive today. Going to miss me?"

Rivaille raised an eyebrow. "Cocky little brat. I'll miss your food, maybe."

Eren smirked against the side of his neck, swinging his legs over to straddle Rivaille. He felt the older man tense as he grinded against him, Eren opening his mouth just slightly to breathe onto his skin.

"I think you might miss something else, too."

And then he was unceremoniously dumped off of Rivaille's lap, shoved off as the other stood up and stalked straight toward the hall. Eren sat up in alarm, peeking over the couch.

"Where are you  _going_?" he squeaked. It was unusual for Rivaille to just reject him like that. With an annoyed huff, Rivaille paused in his tracks.

"To the bedroom. You're welcome to follow."

_Oh_.

He didn't have to ask twice. Eren scrambled off of the couch, walking barely two steps behind Rivaille. As soon as they hit the bedroom door, Eren was shoved backward.

The back of his knees hitting the edge of the bed, he fell back and Rivaille was on top of him instantly. Pressing their mouths together, Eren ran his fingers through the other man's dark locks as their tongues danced together, an almost-battle for dominance that Eren soon gave in to.

Suddenly Rivaille pulled back, with something that Eren couldn't quite put his finger on clouding his dark features. Hesitation? A question? Whatever it was, it was unusual and Eren didn't like it. He frowned.

"Eren." Their breathing was irregular already. Rivaille tightened his grip on the sheets on either side of the younger, looking him in the eye.

"Wha?"

"Do you want this to be memorable?"

The question caught him off guard. Rivaille wasn't much one for talking during sex anyway, especially not when it interrupted the flow. Was he suddenly feeling insecure? Eren's gave him a confused look.

"Uh... It's always memorable, Rivaille, you're great-"

He was cut off by a short swat to the head.

"That's  _not_  what I meant." Rivaille snapped, looking more and more irritated by the second. "I don't need you to boost my self-esteem. I'm asking if you want this to be  _different_."

Eren hesitated.  _Different_  could be a lot of things, not all of them exactly positive in his mind. He shifted uncomfortably under Rivaille's heavy gaze.

"S-Specifically, what were you thinking?"

Rivaille groaned, having had enough of this beating around the bush. Grabbing onto Eren's shoulders, he rolled off of the younger and flipped onto his back, pulling Eren on top of him.

"Wha... Wha-mmmf!"

His question was cut off by Rivaille tugging Eren down by his shirt collar, smashing their lips together with more aggression this time. He broke away again, rolling his hips upward and taking pleasure in the strangled moan that earned him.

"The lube's in the drawer on my side." he said, as if Eren needed a reminder where he put it. Regardless, Eren nodded obediently and slid off the other to go fetch it. Rivaille took advantage of the moment to strip himself down, nothing but his boxers left by the time Eren turned back around. Scooting further up on the bed, he laid back against a pillow and glared darkly at the brunet.

"If you fuck this up, this will be the first  _and_  last time you ever top." he said darkly, confirming in Eren's head what he had meant.

Nodding numbly, Eren tore of his clothes faster than Rivaille had  _ever_  seen him do. It was almost impressive. And then he was on top of him again, this time by his own volition. Grinding their erections together, Eren's mouth was everywhere-On Rivaille's neck, on his collarbone, his ear, his lips. Determined to explore, to taste every part of his body just like Rivaille had done to him so many before.

Rivaille exhaled impatiently as Eren trailed butterfly kisses down his chest, pressing his fingers into the back of the boy's neck.

"I appreciate the effort you're putting in taking it slow," he bit out, "But if you don't speed it up I'm going to change my mind, flip you over, and fuck you senseless."

Eren looked up at him and laughed nervously, grabbing the bottle that had been tossed to the side temporarily. Squirting a bit of it on his hand, he tugged Rivaille's boxers off and tossed them haphazardly to the side. Hesitating before pressing a finger in, he licked his lips dryly.

"Are you... Um, sure?" he asked, knowing what the answer would be but wanting to be careful just in case. Rivaille never was one to back down, though, so he's unsurprised when the only thing he received was:

"Shut up and do it."

That was all he needed to hear. Following the pattern that Rivaille had set for him many times before, he slowly pushed in a finger, biting his lip from just how warm and tight it was and  _oh god_  he could practically feel his dick in there already. He slipped in another digit, watching Rivaille's expression carefully as he arched the two fingers upward, curling and hoping that specific spot wouldn't be  _too_  hard to find-

" _Fuck_."

Eren has to hide his smirk as Rivaille arched upward. Definitely found it. Nails digging into the back of Eren's neck, Rivaille's eyes are squeezed shut as Eren worked his fingers against the other's sweet spot to stretch him further.

Finally, dropping his hands from Eren's neck to grab his arm, Rivaille hissed out.

" _Enough_."

Taking it as a warning, Eren's beginning to pull away, but before he can grab the bottle again Rivaille snatched it up. Squirting a liberal amount to his hand he grabbed Eren's length and gave it a few long, hard pumps, making Eren whimper at the sensation of Rivaille's hot hand against the cold lube.

Rivaille rested his head back against the pillow, wrapping his legs around Eren's back.

"When you put it in, do  _not_  move until I tell you to. Understood?"

Nodding, Eren lined himself up carefully and slowly,  _slowly_  pushed in.

Of course, Rivaille's poker-face was near perfect-but the way his feet were digging into Eren's back told a more accurate story. Eren reveled in the sight of Rivaille under him, breathing shallowly and eyes glazed over. Noting the look on Eren's face, Rivaille frowned.

"Eren, if you tell me I'm beautiful or some shit I will pull you out of me right now and march straight down to 27th Street and find a hooker to finish me off."

Eren actually laughed at that, knowing that Rivaille probably wouldn't go within 10  _feet_  of a prostitute. Pushing himself the rest of the way in and leaning down to kiss Rivaille again, he moaned as Rivaille shifted his lower half slightly.

"Move."

His voice was rough and thick and Eren didn't have to be told more than once. He pulled out and pushed back in slowly, this time truly feeling just how warm and tight Rivaille was. It was amazing, and perfect, and holy  _shit_  he was going to miss being with him when he was off at college.

Their gasps and moans grew louder as Eren picked up the pace, speeding up and knowing he wasn't going to last much longer. Not with the way Rivaille was moaning under him, more vocal than he ever normally was. He was more or less aware that he was being noisy himself, but with no one else around it didn't seem to matter anyway.

"Mmn, ah... Rivaille, I... Ugh, I love you... So much,  _god_."

Sensing just how close he was, he was determined not to finish first this time. Wrapping a hand around Rivaille's stiff member between them, he stroked and pumped in time with their rhythm. Rivaille completely lost himself, forgetting to hold back and moaning Eren's name into his ear over and over.

Just as he thought there was no way he could last any longer, that he was going to lose out and come first  _again_ , Rivaille released himself to Eren's erratically-moving hand with a loud moan, riding out his orgasm as he felt Eren spill himself inside seconds later. Eren collapsed on top of him, gasping and smearing semen across their bodies.

Rivaille probably would have been disgusted, if he hadn't been too busy trying to come back down from the high. Eren slipped out, shoving his face into Rivaille's chest and breathing in deeply.

"... I love you too, by the way." Rivaille said, burying his nose into Eren's hair as they basked in the afterglow. "Sure as hell hope you enjoyed your going-away present. Now get up, we have a shower to take."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Ohh my god.
> 
> This is the longest chapter I've ever written in my life. I think it's also possibly the longest smut scene I've ever written in my life.
> 
> (Also, sorry if there's awkward wording in parts of the smut, I beta my own stuff and I turn into a 12 year old every time I have to reread my own porn scenes lmao)
> 
> SURPRISE MY RIREN FIC TURNED INTO ERERI TOO. I honestly hadn't planned on that happening, but it just seemed to work and to be honest I don't mind them switching it up sometimes? I hope you guys don't hate me too much for that haha.
> 
> Oh gosh. Okay, I hope you all appreciate this super long chapter ahh.


	9. Statement of Work

The rest of December was a long one.

The first few days, Rivaille thought he couldn't have made a better decision. He had his house back, and his peace and quiet. It  _was_  a little lonelier, and something made his heart squeeze whenever he walked by the empty kitchen, but it wasn't unbearable.

But peaceful days turned into silent nights. He would wake up, confused in his suddenly too-large bed, wondering where that body that fit so snugly against him went. Missing small things that he  _never_  thought he would miss, like Eren stealing all the covers or Eren falling asleep on the couch or Eren refusing to wake up in the morning.

Hearing Eren's voice made it better-when it didn't make it worse. He never really thought about how deep into this he was in, until suddenly the video chats only made him feel worse. It was like someone was dangling Eren in front of him, so close he could look and hear but not  _touch_  or  _kiss_  or-

God forbid,  _cuddle_.

Time ticked away slowly, dragging along until it was  _finally_  December 20th - Eren's Christmas break.

Rivaille had even taken an early leave, heading out of the office at lunch to go fix up the house.

(He wasn't even sure why he bothered cleaning up for the brat when he was just going to spend the next two weeks messing it up again, but it was almost like it was necessary. If Eren came in and saw the house less-than pristine, he'd probably get worried for Rivaille and insist on coming back-and as much as Rivaille missed the stupid kid, he absolutely did not drop all that money on a college education for nothing.)

Cleaning had always been a soothing task, anyway. The clean scent of lemon-fragrance and seeing the smooth glint on every surface after you wiped it down enough was oddly therapeutic for the small man.

He glanced at his checklist as he collapsed in his chair, eying the stacks of papers sitting around. It was almost 4 now, Eren wouldn't be home for another two hours ( _at_ least _, with his track record of tardiness_ ), and Rivaille had almost everything on the list done.

He leaned back, closing his eyes. A short power-nap never hurt anyone, right?

x

Hissing in pain as he dropped his oversized luggage by the door, Eren examined the angry red marks across his hand where the handles dug into his skin. He crammed as much as he could into one small duffle bag, and it was amazing enough that it hadn't split open just from the sheer weight.

Shoving the bag to the side with his foot, he rubbed the palm of his hand and glanced around, taking in the familiar sight of Rivaille's house again. It hadn't even been a month, but just being here made him feel way too happy, like nostalgia bubbling up from his chest.

There was only  _one thing_  missing.

He glanced around the living room, somewhat surprised Rivaille hadn't heard him come in. The door was wide open, and there was no way that the other would ever leave the house unattended without locking up first. Creeping in somewhat warily, he frowned at the lack of his lover.

"Rivaille?" he walked past the living room and into the kitchen, peeking around. Everything looked untouched, something he was grateful for.  _No house fires yet_.

"Rivaille, I'm home." he tried again, unease growing as he checked into some of the rooms with no luck. He found it highly unlikely that Rivaille would be hiding from him. His hand shook despite himself as he grabbed the door handle of the office room, opening it slowly. What if someone broke in while he was gone? What if this was all some elaborate trap, and they had taken him hostage? What if-

_What if he was asleep in an office chair cuddling a bottle of Windex._

Eren had to smack a hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. It was so unusual, the man who couldn't even sleep through the night without yelling at Eren to  _stop moving around so much or you're sleeping on the couch_  to be completely conked out in an oversized chair.

Eren stayed where he was, reveling in the sight of Rivaille being caught completely defenseless. For all the times that he had seen him sitting in that chair, he never noticed just how huge it was, and how tiny Rivaille seemed sitting in it. His neck was at an awkward angle, dark hair strewn out across the leather upholstery and mouth slightly ajar, mumbling something that sounded like "Eren you damn blanket-hog…"

The only thing that could have made this a better sight is if he had started  _snoring_.

He took a slow, experimental step forward, wondering just how close he could get to him before he woke up. Rivaille did not stir, even as Eren removed the Windex from his hands and placed it on the hardwood table. Still, Rivaille's breathing maintained its even and deep lull. Eren smiled, slowly turning the leather chair to face him, and lowering his forehead to Rivaille's.

Eren watched Rivaille shift slightly, as he tried his utmost to rest comfortably in his lover's lap (not an easy feat, with Rivaille being so much smaller). Christmas season brought true miracles, it seemed, as Rivaille continued sleeping through all of this. Eren frowned as, wondering just how much Rivaille had been working himself since he left.

And then he brought his head down to match Rivaille's, pressing a short, chaste kiss to those down-turned lips. Rivaille's face twitched as he sucked in a deep breath, before exhaling and returning his breathing to normal. Eren smiled, burying his face in the other man's neck and breathing in his scent.

"You know, I can tell when you're not asleep."

He heard a grunt next to his ear, and then a "Then get the fuck off of me, you're heavy. And stop sniffing me. What are you, a bloodhound?"

Eren pulled away, green eyes gleaming mischievously. "No, but I could be your pet if you  _wanted_  me to-"

Before he could even finish the sentence, Rivaille had stood up and dropped Eren to the ground. He toppled backward to the floor, whining as he hit the hardwood floor.  _Polished_ , he noted.

"What was  _that_  for? And where are you going!?" he called, watching as Levi rolled his eyes and strolled toward the exit. He stopped by the door to briefly look back, frowning.

"It smells like teenage desperation and college horniness in here." Rivaille scoffed. "I'm headed for the shower."

"Want me to follow?"

" _God_."

x

A near-month's worth of sexual frustration was released in the shower as Eren wasted no time pushing his lover against the tiled walls, leaving butterfly kisses down the back of his neck as he worked his fingers against the other.

"I can't believe we're dirtying up the  _one place_  you're supposed to get clean in." Rivaille grumbled, watching as the water from the shower head ran down Eren's back. Hands pressed against the shower walls, already panting, he was certainly a sight to take in.

"I can't believe you're- _ah, don't_ _ **stop**_ _-_ complaining at a time like – _oh fuck, Rivaille_ "

Rivaille arched his fingers upward and watching with subdued pleasure as Eren's toes curled. The latter gasped as he pressed his forehead to the tiles, before turning his head the farthest he could, squinting through the shower to look squarely at Rivaille.

"If you don't take me right now this is going to be over before it's even started." Eren declared shakily

Rivaille raised an eyebrow; Eren wasn't usually this… _vocal_  during sex. He agreed, nonetheless, not in the mood to argue. He grabbed the bottle of lotion he had hidden amidst the myriad bottles of shampoo and body wash, noted rather woefully that it was almost empty in the long months Eren had been away, used during those lonelier nights. He poured out the remaining liquid, slicking it over his dick before pressing up against Eren and exhaling sharply as he pushed in.

" _Fuck_ , Eren, it's been way too long." Rivaille murmured under his breath, loud enough for Eren to barely hear. Eren shivered involuntarily, muscles fluttering beneath Rivaille, looking back at him again with half-lidded hazy eyes. Rivaille's grip tightened around Eren's hips at the sight.

"Mm, Rivaille..." he pushed himself backward, taking in all of Rivaille's length. Rivaille moaned, the boldness catching him off-guard. Eren smirked, watching as water cascaded down Rivaille's jet black hair, framing his face and his open, pliant lips, caught in a moment of ecstasy. Eren felt his cock stir and quickly faced the tiles again, trying to stave off the rising heat pooling at the bottom of his belly. "Rivaille,  _move."_

And Rivaille did, focused on the little stuttering breaths Eren made. Reaching around in front of him, he grabbed the other's length and worked it with one hand, stroking in time with their rocking bodies.

Eren's hands and forehead rested against the wall again for support as the pace picked up, Rivaille's hand movements becoming more erratic. He pressed closer to the younger, the hot water running over their bodies slowly cooled.

Eren came first, shoving a hand into his mouth to stifle his loud cry. Eren had tightened then, sending Rivaille over the edge, releasing himself into Eren as they panted unevenly. He finally pulled out, letting the water wash the mess away down the drain. Eren turned around, resting his head on Rivaille's shoulder and letting out contented sigh.

"If you fall asleep on me in here I'm plugging the drain and letting you drown."

x

"-And I have  _no_  idea what I'm going to do." Eren finished his explanation, staring out the Starbucks window at the white that blanketed the city. He smiled at the thought of this being the  _exact_  same Starbucks where he had gotten the coffees he dumped on Rivaille not that long ago. From this angle, he could even pinpoint the place where they had both toppled over.

His life would be so,  _so_  different if that had never happened.

Armin's voice snapped him back to reality, suddenly remembering he was here with his two best friends for help. He smiled apologetically at Armin, scratching the back of his head.

"Sorry, what?"

Armin sighed.  _Typical Eren, the boy has an attention span shorter than his boyfriend_. "I asked if you had anything in mind. Christmas  _and_  a birthday on the same day is a big deal, don't you think? Don't put off gift shopping again, Eren, a tie or some cheap trinket won't cut it this time…."

Eren glared half-heartedly. "I wasn't planning to! Maybe I should get something that would remind him of me, or something? I think he gets kind of lonely without me, so..." his voice trailed off. "I really have no idea."

Mikasa clicked her tongue in annoyance to his right, thrumming her fingers against the table. "If he gets lonely, why not buy him a dildo?"

Eren choked on his frappe.

"That's- That's not exactly what I meant-"

She tugged her scarf up over her mouth, "I have a catalogue of various prostate massag-"

"A PET, let's get him a pet! How about that, Eren?" Armin shot up, cutting Mikasa off. "A dog or something to keep him company while you're gone, and when you get back it could keep you both company."

"I don't know if he'd go for that." Eren placed the cup back on the table, sighing. "He's a huge clean freak, and dogs are messy..."

"Cats are relatively effortless." Mikasa preened "The oriental breeds, especially". Armin nodded readily.

"Besides, what would he do, return it? No way, a gift from his precious  _Eren_."

Eren furrowed his eyebrows. They had a point. Rivaille tended to let things grow on him anyway...

"Where's the nearest pet store?"

x

"Eren, what about this one?" Armin was peering into a glass window, eying white furball curled up in a small bed. Eren peeked over his shoulder, frowning when he spotted the feline.

"It's long haired. Rivaille would kill me  _and_  the cat if he had to be cleaning up long cat hair everywhere."

Armin sighed. So far, the search had been fruitless. They hit three pet stores-all of which had kittens. And it wasn't like Eren had anything  _against_  kittens, but they were young and tore up furniture and were just generally destructive.

If they were going to get a pet, it had to be mellow.

And that's how they ended up at the animal shelter. Eren had never seen so many cats before. They even all had papers hanging on each cubicle, telling about their personality, age, health issues. It was amazingly organized.

"This one sounds good." Mikasa said, looking at one of the profiles hanging off a glass window. "Relaxed personality, litter-box trained, up to date on all its shots, one and a half years old..." she looked into the glass, frowning.

Eren and Armin both walked over to the cubicle, peering inside. Eren scratched his head.

"Maybe it's hiding somewhere? If it's small, it could be under the bed or something..."

The trio peered from all angles, nothing. "Maybe they already found a family for him? That happens all the tim-"

"Hey there!" They simultaneously whipped around, to find themselves face-to-face with a short blonde.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you." she smiled sweetly, blonde hair tucked behind one ear as she stroked a cat in her arms. "Would you happen to be looking for this little sweetheart?"

_Little._ Eren gaped at the endless ball of fur that she held.

"That is the biggest cat I've ever seen in my life."

Petra laughed, cradling the furry lump in her arms. "Yeah, I thought so too. But he's a real gentle giant. Someone brought him in about a year ago." the corners of her lips turned slightly downward as her expression switched to a more concerned one.

"Unfortunately, most people want something more along the lines of a kitten-young, and well, small." she sighed, shaking her head before returning to that brighter smile. "Can I help you guys with anything?"

Eren looked at the cat as it caught his eye and glared back, seemingly annoyed. The way its eyes narrowed, the way that it looked only slightly irritated-

He said the words before he could even catch himself.

"I'll take it. Him." he shoved his hand into his pocket, glancing back up to Petra. "How much does it cost to adopt?"

Petra's eyes widened as he fished his wallet out of his pocket, pulling out a slick silver debit card. "Er, uh, please hold on a minute! Wouldn't you at least like to hold him?"

Eren frowned as if he hadn't even considered it, nodding slowly and putting his wallet back into his pocket. Carefully, the short blonde stepped forward and placed the cat into his arms.

He stood awkwardly for a few seconds, holding an oversized cat against his chest while the three around him watched with bated breath. Craning its head forward, the cat sniffed his hand tentatively-

Before sinking its teeth in, hard enough to hurt but not hard enough to puncture the flesh. Eren most certainly did  _not_  shrilly scream before stumbling backwards, cursing and nearly dropping the cat in the process.

"What the fuck? It just bit me-"

"- Oh, I forgot to mention, he does that but-"

"- Now it's  _licking me_?"

"- But he always makes it up licking where he bit right after." Petra finished lamely, watching as the cat dutifully licked the teeth marks it had left on Eren's hand. "It just means he likes you. Honestly. He's just a little odd."

The four of them stood in an uncomfortable silence before Eren finally broke the air.

"He's litter-box trained? Up to date on all of his shots?"

Petra nodded eagerly. "Yes, of course! And he's fixed, too. He's good natured and I know this wasn't really the best first impression but-"

"I'll take him."

x

"Eren, this wins the record for the most annoying thing you've made me do yet. Congratulations."

Rivaille scowled as Eren flopped the box of Christmas ornaments in front of him, beaming at the Christmas tree he convinced Levi to buy just earlier. He grabbed one of the silver ornaments, hooking it around a stray branch and grinning. Whipping back around, Eren grabbed another bulb and shoved it into the other's hands.

"Come  _on_ , Scrooge." he leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together. "Tomorrow's your birthday  _and_  Christmas, lighten up!" lightly pecking Rivaille's lips before bouncing back up again, he picked another ornament to hang on the tree. Rivaille groaned, rolling his neck with an attractive  _pop_.

"I'm too fucking old for this shit. And you wouldn't be happy either if you had to give  _away_  presents each year on your birthday."

"You're not even that old." Eren rolled his eyes, then paused to peek at him from behind a branch. "Actually, how old will you be again?"

"Twenty-one. I'm Forever 21."

Eren groaned. "Cute. Maybe I'll buy you a pair of skinny jeans from there for your birthday."

"If that's what steams your broccoli at night."

"As a matter of fact." Eren wiggled his butt and winked at him, before turning his attention back to the tree. "So you actually got me something for Christmas?"

Rivaille was silent for a moment, and Eren flicked his gaze back to the other man. "Rivaille?" He was giving him a complex look, somewhere between offended and another emotion Eren couldn't quite place.

Finally he stood up, walking toward the tree and placing the ornament he had been tossing in his hands on a bare branch. Eren's eyebrows furrowed, but before he could ask Rivaille cut him off.

"I must be a pretty shitty person if you honestly thought I wouldn't get  _you_  a present." he said, face impassive. Eren's chest tightened at the way he said the word  _you_ , and he quickly backtracked.

"N-No, that's not what I meant. I just meant that you've done so much for me already, I wasn't-"

"You're the one who's done so much more for me, so shut the fuck up for a second." Rivaille snapped, visibly annoyed. He glanced away for a second with a sigh, mumbling a quick "Thank you."

Eren stared at him, dumbly, before releasing the branch he was holding and walking toward Rivaille. The taller wound his arms around Rivaille and smiled into his hair, whispering gently:

"You're welcome."

x

Eren examined the box that the cat was crated up in as Petra stood behind the desk, wringing her hands and looking slightly distressed.

"You swear you have everything? Cat food, cat toys, cat litter, cat box?"

"Absolutely everything on that check list you gave me."

This was finally it. Showtime. Eren could say he wasn't nervous- but that would make him a very bad liar. It wasn't easy, even with Petra's help to speed up the adoption process. He had to buy all of the necessary stuff first, and  _then_  find a way to hide it from Rivaille for three days. He was almost worried he wouldn't get the cat in-time- but just like she promised, Petra followed through and got him all cleared exactly on Christmas Day.

He glanced at the box again, noting the holes in all the sides. The cat peered at him from inside, that slightly-annoyed look ever present. Eren glanced up, frowning at the man watching from the corner and sneering at him.

"What's his problem?" he mumbled, loud enough for Petra to hear. She whipped her head back, letting out an exasperated sigh when she spotted the sneering figure.

"Oh, that's Auruo." she shook her head sadly, puffing her cheeks and blowing out a jet of air. "He's kind of... Well, we all got a little attached to this cat because it stuck around for so long, due to his size..." She glanced down for a second, before catching Eren's concerned face and waving it off.

"Oh-But it's nothing to worry about! He'll just get attached to some other animal by tomorrow I'm sure, probably a dog this time actu-"

"I'll bring him to visit sometimes." Eren interrupted her, one gloved hand around the handles on the box. "I mean, as long as that's okay..."

Petra's look of surprise melted into something much warmer, smiling sweetly at him. "Eren, you're such a good kid. Of course that's okay!" she laughed. "I-We'd love that. The next time you visit, I'll introduce you to everyone else, too. It's not just me and Auruo working here, normally."

Eren grinned back at her. "Sounds fun! I'll drag my boyfriend along, too. He's kind of, uh... Blunt, though."

She giggled. "If he's yours, I'm sure he's nice in some way or another. Thank you, Eren!"

Eren nodded, picking up the cardboard box and heading for the door. He paused just before the exit, turning around to face the girl again.

"Hey Petra?"

"Hm?"

"Merry Christmas."

She glanced up from the paperwork she had in her hands, before breaking into a smile.

"Merry Christmas to you too."

x

"Agh, shh,  _shhh_!" Carefully placing the cardboard box below the Chirstmas tree, Eren lamely patted the top. "Just be quiet for a little bit longer, okay? I'm begging you; don't ruin this surprise for me."

Two pinches of catnip later, the feline finally stopped its yowling, contentedly shuffling around in the box, staring at Eren through the airholes. Eren stared back suspiciously, before collapsing, relieved, against the wall.

"Finally. Good kitty. Once you get out of there, I'll get you more, I promise." he sighed, leaning his head back. Petra's smile popped into his head, and he frowned. "I really hope he likes you, because I don't think I can bear to return you."

A car door slammed from outside, and Eren jumped up from his spot on the floor and scrambled to the couch. Hastily kicking off his shoes, he grabbed the remote and wrapped up with a blanket just seconds before Rivaille entered through the door.

"Welcome back." Eren peeked from under the blanket, watching as Rivaille took his coat and gloves off. "Where were you all day?"

"Taking a shit in all the most disgusting public restrooms I could find. It's my Merry Christmas dump."

Eren scrunched his nose up. "Gross. I hope you didn't pick up any weird diseases. I don't guess you're gonna tell me what you were really doing?"

Rivaille smirked at him. "Not unless you're going to tell me what you were doing all day."

"I was here all day!" he shifted on the couch, scooting over to give Rivaille a place to sit. "Honest."

"There are tire-marks in the snow where your car pulled out." he pointed out, crossing his arms. "And you brushed the snow off of it from last night."

"Oh."

Pulling his boots off, he sighed and sat down next to Eren. Scooting closer to him, Eren threw the blanket around Rivaille.

"Wanna do the present exchange now? It's not like we're waiting for anything..." he trailed off at the suspicious look Rivaille gave him. "I mean, unless you wanted to wait..."

"I just thought you'd want to wait until after dinner. Doesn't matter to me."

Eren shrugged. "I think the sooner you open my present, the better." he picked himself up from the couch, shuffling over to the box under the tree. "Here.  _Don't_  shake it." he warned, setting it on Rivaille's lap. Rivaille raised an eyebrow, but said nothing as he opened it up.

Immediately the cat's head popped up, looking dazed. Eren held his breath, watching Rivaille's face expectantly.

"What the hell."

Eren exhaled with a frown. "Look, I know you probably don't want a pet but hear me out, I think it could be good for you-"

"Eren, where did you get this cat?"

"To have something to keep you company- Wait, what?" Eren squinted, examining Rivaille's expression. He was frowning, but there was no anger evident in his face. "From an animal shelter downtown. Why?"

Cautiously, Rivaille lifted his hand up to the cat's head. After sniffing it a few times, the feline bumped his head against the man's hand. "I had a cat that looked like this once. I let him outside about a year ago and he never returned." he reached in the box, picking up the cat's foot. "It had a scar on the bottom of its..."

As he lifted up the paw, Eren saw a healed-over cut stretching across the pads. Levi looked amazed, not even flinching as the cat turned and bit down on his hand.

"Ow. Little fucker hasn't grown out of  _that_ , I see."

Eren shifted in front of him, amused by the way Rivaille was almost-smiling at the cat. "So you're not mad?"

"You just brought back my cat that's been missing for over a year."

He laughed, scratching the back of his head. "I have all the supplies and everything, too. What's his name?"

Rivaille shrugged. "I never gave him a solid name. I mostly just called him cat. Or fucker, whenever he bit me." he rolled his eyes at Eren's expression. "Fine, then you name him."

"I was thinking River."

" _River_?"

"Yeah, River." Eren explained. "The first three letters of your name are Riv, and the first two of mine are Er so..."

"That's the gayest thing I've heard since you moaning my name last night."

Eren flushed despite himself as Rivaille picked the cat out of the box, placing him on the ground. Fishing into his pocket, Rivaille pulled out a small box.

"Come here."

Eren's eyes widened. Rivaille let out an irritated noise,  _tch_ ing.

"Get  _over_  here." he snapped, dropping the box into Eren's hands when he finally moved closer. He watched, face impassive as Eren's hand hovered over the box. Finally, he pulled the top off the box and before he could even register the silver band Rivaille was already explaining.

"Before you jump to conclusions, brat, it's not an engagement ring. It's a promise. Also it shows everyone that you belong to me."

Eren stared wordlessly at the silver ring, with black grooves looping around the center. Noting Eren's silence, Rivaille continued;

"Maybe after you graduate, I can replace it with the real thing-" his voice cut off as Eren flung himself at Rivaille, wrapping his arms around the other.

"I love it, I love it, I  _love_  it." he said, slipping the ring on his finger behind Rivaille's head. "It's- It's amazing."

"Not as amazing as you bringing back my missing cat." Rivaille grumbled. Eren laughed next to his ear.

"That was all coincidence. The cat did remind me of you, though. No wonder." he lifted his hand back up, admiring the ring. "Now we both have a reminder of each other when we're apart."

"Hm." Rivaille's eyes flicked from Eren's face to the window. "It's beginning to snow."

Eren grinned. "Good thing I don't plan on going anywhere else." he said, pressing his lips against Rivaille's.

Rivaille let him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Next chapter will be the last (but I'm writing something in between this one and 10 that covers stuff that happens between the two, it'll be a oneshot and not actually part of this fic though) and ahh I'm gonna have a hard time letting go!
> 
> Again, special thanks to Jerri for beta'ing this trainwreck.
> 
> There's a line from RENT in there because I watched it like 5 times this week I'm really sorry.


	10. Reduction in Force

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was just supposed to be chapter 9.5, a small insert, but it ended up basically as long as all my other chapters so... You're welcome!

It took Eren Jaeger about 15 minutes and 23 seconds before he tuned his professor out, letting his mind wander as his eyes glazed over with boredom.

No one mentioned culinary college would involve listening to someone talk for  _hours_. All the brochures showed were smiling students actually  _cooking_. He jiggled his leg in an attempt to stay conscious, feeling his phone shift around in his pocket. He was going to pass out if he didn't have something to grab his attention. Who the  _fuck_  was the genius who came up with 7AM classes, anyway?

His hand twitched toward his pocket as he kept his eyes glued on the professor, aware that he was in a room with about 200 other people and the man probably couldn't care less. Stealthily, he pulled out his phone and slid his thumb across the smooth screen to unlock it.

... Who was he even going to text?

Mikasa was out, she'd lecture him on not paying attention. Armin wouldn't text back if he was in the middle of class. Rivaille...

Would probably yell at him about wasting his money, if he wasn't in a meeting. It still seemed odd to Eren, that he didn't have Rivaille's schedule memorized anymore. Not that long ago, that was his  _job_. He frowned a little bit, suddenly feeling out of the loop. Numbly fingering the silver ring on his other hand, he wondered what Rivaille  _was_  up to.

Letting his curiosity get the better of him, Eren opened up Snapchat and hit the photo button. (ignoring the 15 unopened Snaps from Hanji. Sometimes he thought she missed him more than his boyfriend did.).

Rivaille was just going to  _love_  his appearance. He had just dragged himself out of bed, with his messy mop-hair and wrinkled "it smells clean so it must be clean" shirt. He smiled softly at the thought of Rivaille crinkling up his nose in disgust, holding out his phone in front of him. With one hand he pulled his nose up pig-style, went cross-eyed and mustered up the dopiest grin his mouth would let him. With the other he held the phone steady, pressing the capture button and praying that it was centered.

He blinked a few times at the image as he pulled the phone back down into his lap, biting the side of his cheek to keep from laughing out loud. What a  _masterpiece_. Stifling a snicker, he sent the image to Rivaille and waited.

It wasn't even a few minutes later that Eren received the reply. Excited, he snatched up his phone again and grinned when he saw the response.

It was so typical of Rivaille, a seemingly deadpan face to anyone who didn't know his little nuances, couldn't point out the slightly amused glimmer in that always-straight face of his. "Attractive" was written across the center, and Eren only had 5 seconds to admire the rare picture of his lover before it disappeared again.

He frowned, realizing he probably should have taken a screenshot before it expired. It wasn't very often that Rivaille sent Eren pictures of himself. (although he got plenty of River. As cute as the cat was, that wasn't really what he was looking for when he Snapchatted Rivaille.) Closing out of the app, he pulled up his texts and tapped Rivaille's name.

_"Eren Jaeger_

_7:32 AM_

_wait can you send me another pic pleaaase"_

He received another message back almost instantly.

_"Rivaille_

_7:32 AM_

_No."_

Eren furrowed his brows at the reply. He should have known better, but still...

" _Eren Jaeger_

_7:34 AM_

_please? i miss you. a lot. i havent seen you since x-mas break._ "

He pressed the button on top of his phone, feeling a little triumphant. Rivaille's weak-spots were so  _easy_  to pinpoint.

Smirking when his phone buzzed shortly after, the cheeky grin was wiped off of his face as quickly as he had plastered it on there. A picture of Levi, sure-with half of his scowling face covered by his middle finger. Eren frowned, but took a snapshot of it anyway. Something was better than  _nothing_.

He slipped his phone back into his pocket, not bothering to send a reply. That'd probably get the message across that he wasn't very amused by Levi's antics. Class was about to end anyway. Eren eyed the clock, tapping his foot restlessly. Just a few more minutes...

... And then he would get to see his roommate.  _Jean_. The thought almost made Eren groan out loud. The insufferable prick Eren had the misfortune to attend high school with. He'd almost choked when he saw Jean unpacking in their shared room. Granted, he had matured a lot over the two years they'd been in college together.

He was still an asshat though. Just a little mellowed.

Eren was snapped back to the present by the shuffling of chairs around him, indicating that class was dismissed. Thank  _G_ _od_. Grabbing his bag, he threw the strap over his shoulder and headed for the door.

x

"'Sup." Jean greeted as Eren entered the dorm, noticeably shirtless (displaying those telltale scratches from his shoulders down his back). Eren resisted the urge to gag, opting to throw his bag on the floor and grab a Mountain Dew from the mini-fridge over responding to the other college student. Jean's eyes narrowed as he tossed a pillow in Eren's direction.

"Hey, dickweed, I was talking to you. Stop acting uppity, I have a question to ask."

Eren turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "Is it about my sister?"

"No-well, yes-but not in the way that you think. Hey, toss that pillow back to me?"

Eren picked the pillow up from the ground and threw it back to him, rolling his eyes. "She's not going to date you. Give it  _up_."

Catching the pillow deftly, Jean tucked it behind his head and propped himself up against the wall. "Whatever! I'm over that anyway-" he took a pause for dramatic effect, wiggling his eyebrows at Eren. "As  _you_  know."

If he was referring to the incident Eren  _thought_  he was referring to, (that involved Eren coming home rather late to find Jean's tongue down some freckled boy's throat) then unfortunately enough, he did. Eren didn't bother hiding the gagging noises this time.

"Oh, whatever, Sir  _"Riiiiivaaaille I miss you sooooo much!"_." Eren ground his teeth together at the impersonation as Jean smirked. "Gonna give me another bloody nose, Eren Jaeger?"

"Nah, you're not worth it." he sneered, annoyance bubbling in the pit of his gut. "Hurry up and ask your damn question"

"Right. Yeah." Jean paused again, tilting his head just slightly. "How long has your sister been a lesbian?"

Eren blinked.

"You know," Jean stressed, "Girls, that like girls?" earning another dirty look from Eren.

"I know what a lesbian is, Jean, I just-"

Honestly, Eren had never really given much thought to his sister's sexuality at all. Why  _would_  he? She'd always been intelligent past her years and independent, he'd always figured that she'd choose a good partner if she wanted one.

"Well," Jean leaned forward, off of the pillows on his bed, staring seriously at Eren. "I always kind of figured that she and Armin would get together. But according to Marco-"  _dreamy sigh_ "-who, by the way, goes to school with them, she's dating some short blonde. Anna, or Annie or  _something."_

"... Oh."

Jean smirked, the gloating clear in his voice. "Yeah. Don't believe me? Why not call her up and ask?"

Eren shrugged, flinging the empty bottle in the bin with a loud clatter. "It's none of my business who Mikasa dates, as long as she's happy." He sauntered over to his bed, flopping down on it and staring up at the ceiling. Jean snorted.

"It bothers you."

Eren rolled his eyes. "It does  _not_. I don't give a shit whether or not my adopted sister is gay."

"Not that. The fact that you just got bumped to number 2 from Mikasa's priority list"

Eren shot up to properly glare at his roommate, something bitter boiling in him, working something awful.  _That Mountain Dew was a mistake_ _._  "What the  _fuck_  are you-"

"Hmm." Jean raised an eyebrow, nonchalantly flopping down on the mattress again. "Ignorance doesn't fit you. Let's be honest now, what's the  _real_  reason you hated me all through high school? Couldn't stand the thought of your precious little sister taking her attention off of you?"

"That's bullshit." His wavering voice shattered his false resolve. "Bullshit! I hated you because you were, and you still are, a fucking douchebag!"

"Poor little Eren." Jean continued, ignoring the threatening glare Eren was sending him. "His sister's decided to move on and stop doting on him-"

Jean's sentence was cut off by Eren's fist connecting with his jaw.

x

"You broke your roommate's  _nose_?" Rivaille's anger radiated through the phone. Eren looked down and shifted uncomfortably.

"Yeah, but he got a swing in too and gave me a black eye so he's not going to report it. I won't get in any trouble."

He heard Rivaille sigh over the line, before his voice cut in again. "Did he deserve it though?"

"Hell yes."

Rivaille clicked his tongue. "Since you aren't volunteering to tell me, I won't ask. Don't go around picking fights, and  _stay in school, brat_."

Eren relaxed. "I will. He had it coming anyway." And before Rivaille could respond, "By the way, have you talked to my sister lately?"

"... No."

Eren paused, furrowing his eyebrows together, eyes widening in disbelief. Did Rivaille just…

"... Are you  _lying_  to me?"

"Possibly."

He gaped blankly, fumbling as his phone slipped from his hand. Rivaille had to keep secrets all his life, be it switching topics or withholding information, but...

"You're a surprisingly bad liar. Why were you talking to my sister?"

"I didn't say I was."

" _Rivaille_ "

A  _tch_  was heard from the receiver, just before Rivaille spoke again. "Two months until graduation. Goodluckbye."

His phone beeped twice and Eren slumped into his bed.

x

When they say distance makes the heart fonder, they aren't fucking kidding.

(They also omit the parts where distance makes the heart angrier and more paranoid and grumpier, but that doesn't sound quite as poetic.)

They also say that time heals everything, though Rivaille strongly disagrees. The first few months were easy, at least compared to what it was like after Eren came back for summer break and left again in the fall. It was almost getting  _harder_  to let go each time he came back. The longer the break was, the worse it felt letting him go back to his education.

He felt like a selfish  _child_

Especially now, as he stared at his phone and rubbed his forehead. Eren was a good kid, a little impulsive and a lot stupid, sure, but he wasn't  _supposed_  to be getting into fights. He complained about his roommate all the time, but Rivaille never thought it would escalate into anything physical. It would be so easy to convince Eren to come back early and finish the few credits he needed to graduate at another time-

But that would also effectively ruin his own plan, one that he had put  _months_  of work into, one that was finally coming together. He couldn't risk that.

Rivaille leaned back in his chair and stretched, ignoring the annoyed look River shot him from his spot on Rivaille's lap. Brushing him off as he stood up from the chair, he snickered at the way the cat puffed up on the floor.

"Yeah, you little shit, be pissy. But guess who's getting only dry food this week?"

River promptly turned around and padded off into another room.

Rolling his eyes, Rivaille grabbed his phone from the table and walked toward the kitchen, sending a short text to Mikasa.

_"Call your brother. I think he's mad at me."_

The response came less than 2 minutes later, just as Rivaille was working on popping a frozen dinner into the microwave.

_"He's not mad, he's confused. And interrogating me. I didn't tell him anything. He's saying weird things though, I think he knows about Annie. Did you tell him?"_

Rivaille smirked at the text. He figured it would have only been a matter of time before he found out anyway. Then again, him finding out about Annie would prompt questions about how they met-which would inevitably lead to him finding out that the petite blonde was Rivaille's new assistant. It wasn't supposed to be a secret, but Eren had never asked about it before and Rivaille had never mentioned it. Still, telling him now  _probably_  wouldn't be the best idea.

He typed back a quick response before setting the microwave timer.

_"I didn't say anything about that to him. Don't mention she's my assistant."_

Rivaille's phone buzzed yet again a few minutes later, with another message from Mikasa. The microwave beeped behind him as he read the message.

_"He doesn't know? You know he's gonna find out sooner or later?"_

_"And he would have found out about your little affair sooner or later, too, so I don't want to hear it."_

The message was sent as Rivaille pulled the tray out of the microwave. Just the  _smell_  of it made him miss Eren's cooking. But, if everything worked out as planned, that wouldn't even be a problem anymore.

If there was one good thing he could say about Annie, it was that she had become a valuable bargaining tool. At first, Mikasa hadn't been very apt to cooperate with him-even if it was for Eren. But after a few happy accidents and introductions, Levi had that one little piece hanging above Mikasa's head.  _She owed him for setting them up._

(Even if it was accidental.)

That wasn't all the convincing it took, but he was sure that was a good majority of it. He didn't even have to say it to her, because Mikasa was nothing if not good at repaying what she felt she owed someone.

Eren didn't know it know, but this would all be worth it when he got to see the surprise.

Shoveling the last of the TV dinner into his mouth, he dumped the black tray into the trash and pulled up Skype on his phone. With a sigh, he called Eren into a video chat, knowing better than to let their last conversation sit and marinate with the temperamental teen.

He answered after only a few seconds, his pouty face showing up on the screen as it loaded. Rivaille had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the childish sight. He'd seen that face half an hour ago on their hissy cat.

"What, are you mad?" he raised an eyebrow to further get his point across that he  _didn't_  think this was cute. Eren shook his head.

"M'just tired." he responded, and Rivaille noted that he was in his pajamas in bed. "And confused. Plus, you never call me first, so I'm nervous."

Rivaille sighed. "You make it sound like I neglect you or something, you brat. Are you still worried about the Mikasa thing?"

Shrug. Rivaille clicked his tongue.

"I'm not having an affair with her, nor am I planning on killing anyone with her, so with those two things out of the way: don't fucking worry about it." He tapped his fingers on the table in front of him at Eren's unconvinced face,. "Do you trust me?"

"... Yeah."

"Then don't worry about it. Besides, you're being a little hypocrite, worrying about me after knocking some kid's face in."

Eren actually looking guilty at that one, dipping his head down. "Yeah, I guess you're right." he brought his head back up, a small smile playing on his lips. "Promise you're not getting into any trouble?"

"I swear at the risk of going bald like Connie."

Rivaille got a full grin this time. "Now you  _really_  better not be getting into any trouble."

"How superficial of you. What, don't think I could pull off the waxed look?"

Eren scrunched up his nose at him, shaking his head. "If I wanted to be dating someone who looked like a bald 12 year old, I'd date Connie." he shuddered.

Rivaille snickered. "I think you just insulted me. I'm hanging up."

"Wait!" Eren shook the camera in an attempt to catch Rivaille's attention, frowning. "Just... Swear you're not doing anything stupid?"

Levi rolled his eyes. "I already swore on my hair, what else do you want? Focus on finishing school and not killing your roommate."

"Alright, alright." Eren grinned again, mustering up the cheesiest smile he could manage. "I love you."

"I love you too. Goodnight."

"'Night."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time no see!
> 
> I had no idea I was going to get this busy throughout the last month or so, and I apologize for that. Senior year has been crazy. (And I was promised it's supposed to be the easiest year!) But now that I'm done applying to colleges and everything, I should be back in swing.
> 
> Although, there's only one chapter left. Next is the final chapter! Aw man, this might make me be a little sad.
> 
> As always, thank you guys for reading! (And tolerating me and my huge hiatus there.)


	11. Year to Date

_Home is where the heart is._

And home is where Rivaille is sitting when Eren pulls up, warm coffee and River by his side as he reads on the porch. Pulling the keys out of the ignition as fast as he could, Eren flung himself at Rivaille, nearly knocking the man backwards.

"Eurf-" huffing, Rivaille pushed back to pry the smaller man off of himself. "Did you get everything out of the dorm room?"

"It's not like I had that much shit accumulated." he grinned languidly, burying his face in the crook of Rivaille's neck. "It's all in the trunk and the backseat." he pulled his head back ever-so-slightly, huffing lightly on his skin. "Can't it wait until later?"

Rivaille shoved Eren off of his lap, sending him a flat look as he stood up. "No."

" _Why_?"

"Because we have somewhere to be later-" he cut off midsentence, eyes flickering upward to the door. Eren followed his gaze to see a short blonde leaning against the frame, sharp eyes leveling a flat gaze upon them.

"Did I interrupt something?"

Rivaille clicked his tongue, sparing a glance at Eren's confused expression before turning back toward the other. "No. Annie, can you help us unload all this?"

_Annie?_

Eren gaped at the girl in recognition as she brushed past him, eyebrows knit together in confusion.  _But wasn't that name- Then what was she-?_

"Eren, stop staring and get over here. She's taken and so are you."

Eren blinked, noticing the way Annie turned away immediately at the remark, a ghost of an amused smile on her face. Scowling, he marched over and took a box from Rivaille's hands. "Are you at least going to, I don't know, introduce me?"

Rivaille cleared his throat. "Sure. Annie, this is my brat of a boyfriend Eren. Eren, this is my new assistant and also your sister's brat of a girlfriend."

"You're brattier than I am." she said, pulling two suitcases out of the trunk easily and heading toward the house. Eren's eyes flicked between Rivaille and her retreating figure with a frown.

"Your new assistant? You didn't tell me that- wait, why is she here?"

"Because I required her  _assistance_." Rivaille rolled his eyes, "You're acting like I betrayed you or something." he dropped another box onto the one Eren was holding, forcing Eren to crane his head to the side to see around it. "You honestly thought I wouldn't get another assistant? Hurry up and go before you drop all that shit."

Eren exhaled, sending Rivaille a dirty look before going to dump the boxes into the house. He sighed as he released them, glancing up just as Annie passed by him to go back outside. He bit his lip, frowning slightly. "Hey, Annie-"

She paused at her name, turning around expectantly. Eren swallowed. "Uh..."

"Thank  _God_ you're back" Annie muttered

"Huh?"

"He's missed you, Rivaille, I mean. Talks about you  _all_  the time. Most of the time it's just comparing stupid things like ' _Eren wouldn't have made two trips to do that_ ' or ' _Eren didn't need a step stool just to make lunch_ '"

She glared at the door down the hall, before swishing back to face Eren

"It's  _really_  fucking annoying and I'm glad you're finally here so he'll stop." she tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear, blue eyes looking completely focused.

"….It's nice to see you too?"

"She nodded, moving to turn around before pausing again."Mikasa misses you, too."

"No surprise there," Eren shoved his hands in his pockets, watching Rivaille as he sauntered down the hall.

"We should probably get moving before he yells at us." Eren whispered, eyes flicking towards the approaching figure.

"Probably." she agreed, returning the tiniest of smiles as she turned back toward the door.

Together, they managed to haul in everything in Eren's car in record time, fifteen minutes altogether (excluding Annie's smoke break). Eren slumped against the cool wall of the living room, rubbing at his sore arms. "This is going to  _hurt_  tomorrow."

"Cute. Now go take a shower." Rivaille said flatly, standing in front of him.

Eren groaned.

"I have to take one too, so get in there or we're taking one together."

Eren perked up.

"Oh, oh  _no_." Annie pursed her lips together, frosty gaze settling on them like a blanket of snow. "If I hear any moaning, or screaming, or god knows  _what_  from the bathroom, I'm calling the police to report a disturbance in the neighborhood. I imagine an armed officer kicking down the door would kill the mood a little."

Eren pouted, but Rivaille shook his head. "A delight as always,  _Annika_." she frowned at the use of her full name as he continued, "But we'll spare you. Eren always passes out right after getting off anyway-"

"I do  _not_!"

"-and since we have a place to be later it'll have to wait."

"Fine." Annie sighed, leaning against the couch. "I'll just wait out here then?"

Rivaille nodded. "You can call and ask how things are going."

"Alright."

Ignoring Eren's questioning gaze, he grabbed the back of his shirt and pushed him forward. "To the bathroom, your stench would put River's litter box to shame right now."

Annie watched them shuffle off disinterestedly; pulling out her phone and tapping the first number on her call history only after hearing the sound of the shower spray.

_"Annie_." the voice on the other end cut through clearly, monotone. Annie tapped her fingers against the back of the couch.

"Mikasa. Are things almost ready?" she asked, equally monotone.

_"He's back already?"_ There was an intake of air from the voice on the other side.  _"We need-probably an hour at best. Do you think you can hold them off until then?"_

"They're in the shower together." she rolled her eyes, despite the fact that it couldn't be seen. "You've probably got  _two_  hours."

Annie thought she heard Mikasa grind her molars together.  _"_ _That's…_ _Good. I'll text you when everything is set up, I'm sure Rivaille can handle it until then."_

"Probably." she paused. "Do you need any help over there? Because I can-"

_"We've got it under control."_ Mikasa cut her off.  _"Practically everyone Rivaille knows is over here. Help him distract Eren, okay? He gets antsy with surprises."_

"If you're sure." Annie replied, shuffling her feet lightly. She moved to go outside, phone held between her jaw and shoulder as she pulled a pack of cigarettes out of her pocket. "Good luck over there."

" _You too._ "

"Lo- _ater_. Later." Annie cringed at her own near-slip.  _Smooth_.

" _... Yeah, see you in a bit. Bye._ " and then the disconnect tone. Annie sighed, placing a cigarette between her lips as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"Lo- _ater_?"

The voice from behind startled her, and she whipped around to see Eren standing there, toweling his damp hair. She scowled, pulling the cigarette away from her mouth to speak.

"That was a fast shower." she said, eyeing him. He shrugged.

"Rivaille kicked me out after I was deemed clean enough." he explained, leaning against the door frame. " _So_ , you're the famous Annie I've heard about."

"Mikasa talks about  _me_?" She whispered in wonder, looking down at her shoes. Eren gave her a lopsided grin, scratching the side of his head.

"Actually, most of it came from Jean."

She blinked, pulling out her lighter and flicking it on to light up the end of her cigarette. "Jean?"

"Kirschtein, uh... Marco Bodt's boyfriend?" he frowned, continuing, "Mikasa and I went to high school with him, he was always hitting on her."

"Oh." she nodded in comprehension. "Yeah, she might have mentioned him once. The one who's nose you broke."

Eren grimaced. "Yeah, that one. So... How long have you and Mikasa been dating?"

Annie exhaled unhurriedly, belying the sudden stiffness in her posture. "That's a trick question" she stated, watching the smoke swirling upward. "Define dating."

"Uh, whatever you guys are now?" his nose crinkling as he made a waving gesture in her general direction. She shot him a blank stare and Eren crossed his arms to stave off the ice in her blue eyes.

All was stifling silent as Annie flicked the ash onto the ground

"A month or two. I met her a bit before that, though." she took another puff. "You and Rivaille have been together for a few years, yeah?"

Eren ran a hand through his hair. _Finally, a reply._  "Something like that. Definitely doesn't feel like it though."

"Hm."

Shifting nervously, Eren watched as she smoked and wondered how Mikasa and her ever got along. That had to be a quiet relationship, for sure-

But then he thought of his own, with Rivaille. How being with someone you really like- _love_ , even-can bring out parts of you that you didn't know existed.

Yeah, he had no room to judge.

A muffled  _ding_  was heard through the silence, and Annie pulled her phone out of her pocket. Her blue eyes lit up with the screen as she pulled up the text, face unconcerned.

"Huh," she said, before slipping the phone back into her pocket. Dropping the cigarette onto the ground, she crushed it under her boot. "Looks like we're going early. Go get your clean-freak from the shower."

x

"They're on the way." an authoritative voice cut through the chaos of the busy building, catching everyone's attention. Mikasa, standing near the door in a poor attempt to oversee everything going on, settled her hands on her hips. "Is everything good to go?"

"The tables and floor are clean." Christa said from across the floor, swatting at Ymir after a snarky " _for the 80th time_ ".

"All the appliances are working." with a thumbs up, Reiner emerged from the kitchen with Bertholdt in tow. "Just finished the test spin on the dish washer."

Mikasa nodded approvingly, eyes flicking back toward the kitchen. "And the food?"

Grunting, Jean appeared around the corner. "All ready to go, if  _someone_  would stop eating it!"

"Hey!" Sasha appeared behind him, shoving the last of something in her mouth. "You sef you weren' gonna ushe the grapesh to'ay an'way!"

Mikasa tapped her foot against the hardwood. "Sasha, weren't you and Connie supposed to stay away from the kitchen?"

A shrug. Swallowing the last of the grapes, Sasha looked around. "I don't know where he went. Cooooonnnnnie?"

"I'm in the bathroom!"

All heads snapped to the other corner of the room. Mikasa pinched the bridge of her nose. "Connie-"

" _Hey_ , midget!" with a slam of her hands on the table, Ymir stood up with enough force to knock the chair backward. "Me 'n Christa spent like an hour cleaning up that bathroom, you better not be taking a dump-"

"Ymir, stop!" Christa jerked the other girl back down, causing her to lose her balance. They both collapsed in a pile of blonde and freckles on the floor, just as Armin came back in through the door.

"They're pulling up..." his eyes moved across the room, taking in everything that was going on, "...now..."

Mikasa snapped back up, grabbing a hold of Armin's shoulders. "Armin. Distract them."

"What? How do you expect me to-"

"Use your little genius brain, figure something out!" she said, looking back over her shoulder at the chaotic restaurant. "Everyone! Places- wait, where's Hanji?"

"She ran to the store last second, I think." Marco answered, helping pick Christa and Ymir up off the floor. "Uh, Mikasa, you know they're right-"

" _Ahem_."

Everyone froze at the exact same time at the voice that cleared itself, eyes turned toward the three that just walked into the restaurant as Connie walked out of the bathroom, looking around.

"Hey, what's cracka'lackin'-  _Oh_."

Mikasa cursed every single bit of herself that thought it would be acceptable to get involved in this at all.

With a deep breath, she turned around and forced a smile. "Welcome to  _Jaeger's,_ Restaurant and Lounge."

Eren blinked.

Once, twice.

Three times.

"What?"

The entire restaurant was silent, watching his reaction carefully. Annie looked impassive, Rivaille looked mildly annoyed. Mikasa looked mildly concerned as Eren's pupils dilated as he tried to take it all in.

"Uh. Sorry?"

" _Your_  restaurant, Eren. Congratulations on graduating." Rivaille spoke up, wrapping a hand around Eren's waist. His eyes moved around the area, noting the way everyone looked like they were barely breathing. He paused at the curtains decorating the wide front window, frowning. "Who picked those?"

Mikasa followed his line of sight, frowning when she spotted the mottled paisley affair. "Oh, that was-"

"Me! Aren't they nice?"

Rivaille nearly jumped a foot when Hanji appeared behind them, throwing her arms around both of them. "I can't believe I missed the surprise! So, Eren, what do you think?"

"Uh,"

And that was the last thing he said before his knees buckled, sending his face skidding across the checkered tiles.

"Goddamn it, I  _just_ waxed those!"

"Ymir, hush!"

x

"... how was... supposed to know he'd pass out...?"

"You startled ... shit out of him!"

"... not my fault!"

"Shh, guys, he's coming to!"

Eren opened his eyes, squinting past the ceiling light as an overcast, familiar face came into focus.

"Petra? What-" he blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes. "Where am I?" he moved to sit up, but the blonde lightly shoved him back down on her lap.

"Don't get up just yet. You're in your restaurant, Eren!" she frowned when the color swirled out of his face again, grabbing his cheeks. "No, no, you can't pass back out again."

"Petra, let me see him."

She turned toward the other voice, scowling. "Just wait a second, Rivaille. Eren, you okay now?"

"I'm..." he cleared his throat, going to sit up again. This time Petra let him. "Yeah, I'm okay. What's..." his eyes flicked over all the worried faces staring at him, noting that he knew all of them except for a few. "Going on?"

"We all got together to surprise you!" Sasha piped up from behind Connie. "And you passed out, so I guess it worked."

"You all know each other?"

"Rivaille brought us together." Armin spoke this time, sitting next to Mikasa. "All of your friends, to help put this place together."

"Oh! And this is Gunther and Erd, the two other people who work at the shelter with me. I brought them along, hope you don't mind." Petra grinned, scooting away from Eren now that he was conscious. "Rivaille put a lot of work into this."

Rivaille shrugged from where he was standing. "It seemed like an appropriate present."

"... Wow." Eren blinked, eyes roaming around the restaurant for the first time. "... Thank you." he fixed his eyes on Rivaille, before smiling at everyone else. " _All_  of you."

Christa grinned, moving off of her chair to give him a hug. "You're welcome, Eren! It was actually a lot of fun, we should be thanking you."

"Ugh, gross. Sappiness." Ymir rolled her eyes, sipping the last of her fruit punch and setting the plastic cup down before yelling. "Dog pile!"

"Wait, what-"

"Hell yeah!" giving Ymir a high five, Connie flung himself at Eren first, wheezing as Sasha belly flopped on him, and found himself laughing. Ymir and Hanji collided mid air as they nose dived onto the pile.

If anyone asked later, Eren would blame the tears on the weight of the laughing heap of  _family_ on him _._

From at the very bottom of the pile, Eren wiggled his way out to breathe. Seeing Rivaille watching him as he sat primly on the pile, he picked himself up off the floor and wrapped his arms around the other man.

"Thank you." he mumbled into his hair, tightening his grip. "Thank you so much."

"Shut up and go make food for all of these idiots. They're probably starving."

x

"Alright, who wanted the sandwich appetizers?"

"Me! Me me me!" Sasha's hand shot into the air. Armin glanced down the long table, a result of pushing all the other tables in the restaurant together.

"Er, me too, actually..."

Eren scratched the back of his head. "Wait, really? Hold on-"

"Don't touch your hair, you're the chef." Rivaille snapped at him from next to Hanji. Eren pulled his hand away, looking guilty.

"Right, sorry..."

"Eren, this soup is getting cold!"

His head jerked back to the kitchen, where Jean was looking at him impatiently. "Fuck, shit. Okay, one second!" plopping the plate of sandwiches down halfway between Armin and Sasha, he frowned. "Can you two share for now? I'll be right back with another plate-"

"It's fine." Armin waved him off as Sasha grabbed the first bite, shoving it into her mouth. "Don't sweat it."

Eren nodded gratefully as he dashed back off toward the kitchen. Watching him, Mikasa turned towards Annie.

"I'm going to help."

Annie raised an eyebrow. 

"And?"

The dark haired girl paused, an inkling of a frown on her face. "Nothing. Just telling you." she said, pushing away from the table and going to stand up. Annie sighed, following suit.

"Alright, I'll help too."

The corners of Mikasa's lips twitched upward as she turned toward the kitchen, a gesture of her thankfulness. Ymir watched the scene with a bored expression, snorting at Annie's smile.

"Wow, what a loving,  _tender_  couple."

Connie had to muffle his own cackle at Annie's following gesture, flipping the other girl the bird behind Mikasa's back. Ymir snorted, watching the two walk off toward the kitchen.

"Love you too!"

At that, Christa carefully stood on her chair and pulled a digital camera from her pocket.

"Everyone, listen up!"

All chatter ceased instantly, shocked faced trying to match the booming voice to her small stature

"We're going take a group photo, so everybody line up behind the long table please!"

"I'll take the photo" Bertholdt offered shyly, speaking up for the first time that night. Christa smiled gently and shook her head, fingers deftly working at the camera.

"It's quite alright Bert, everyone's going to be in it" She murmured, aligning the camera to the far end of the table.

Christa watched placidly as Hanji waved the busy chefs from the kitchen while Connie and Sasha practiced pulling their silliest faces at each other.

After everyone clustered together. "The timer goes off in three seconds, alright? So strike a pose and…"

_Beep_

Christa ran across the table, fingers skidding across the tablecloth that Sasha and Connie chose, legs smacking against the polished floor.

_Beep_

She took in the wafting scent of food, and the upbeat rhythm of blaring radio.

_Beep_

"…. Say Cheese!"

x

Blinking stars out of her eyes from the flash, Christa waited patiently as Petra passed the camera down, gathering chortles and gasping laughter from the crowd

"Oh." Hanji laughed when the camera was passed her way, grinning at the picture.

"It looks alright?" Christa asked, tipping her head. Hanji laughed in response and handed her the camera.

"See for yourself"

"Very accurate, if I do say so myself." someone remarked from behind.

_Accurate_  was an understatement. Everyone had leaned forward like Christa asked, and miraculously enough it worked. Everybody was captured in the photo, although only a few people were looking at the camera, and even less smiling.

Auruo, Erd, Gunther, and Petra were the closest to the camera, with varying degrees of excitement, catching Petra with a half grin on, and Auruo mid-tongue bite. Erd was staring at Gunther, who looked every bit like a deer caught in headlights.

Looking over her shoulder, Ymir cackled.

"Someone frame this shit!" she said, pointing at the camera. "Christa-just look at you!"

"I see it, Ymir!" she giggled, before glancing back down at the camera with a grin. "Well, I guess "accurate" is right."

"Let me see." Rivaille said, holding out his hand. Christa passed it over to him, sitting at the head of the table. From behind him, Eren leaned over to get a better look.

Just past them, Erwin maintained his stoic look for the camera, a stark contrast to Reiner and Hanji, brandishing a bright smile and peace sign. Bertholdt looked uncomfortable, bent forward due to his height, but he had a small smile, nervous as ever, but still the most photogenic of the lot.

Connie was pressing a chaste kiss to Sasha's cheek, a hundred-watt smile on her face.

Ymir had a large smile upon her face, but her eyes were only for Christa, dashing into the frame, golden strands trailing behind her, captured by the flash, lighting her up like an angel.

Armin caught between looking at the camera and the tender scene beside him.

Mikasa with her arm firmly around Annie's waist, both managing half smiles.

Jean with a blinding grin.

And at the very center, a boy with a chef's hat in his right arm, and his boyfriend, with smiling eyes that didn't quite reach his lips.

_Our first family photo._

"... Not bad." Rivaille said, nodding. Eren picked up the camera to get a closer look, grinning.

"It's perfect, isn't it? I'll print it out for you Eren, you can frame it and hang it up" Christa piped up beside him.

"Of course," Eren whispered, "Where would I be without all of you?"

"Such a flatterer." Ymir snidely interjected. "But seriously, I didn't do all this work not to eat anything. To the kitchen, wench!"

The room was filled with laughter at that, and Eren took advantage of it to sidle up to Rivaille and sneak a kiss and an appreciative pinch, before loudly declaring, "Alright, everyone, the next course is dedicated to my wonderful boyfriend! Just like him, it's going to be sweet, a little spicy, and an all round smoking hot hunk of meat!" He flourished with a wink.

Whoops broke out across the table, along with a few whistles. Rivaille pulled away, ears burning red as Eren smirked and bowed at the table, walking back toward the kitchen as Connie yelled out "Ooh, kill 'em!"

Just before he disappeared into the kitchen, Rivaille called out one last thing:

"Wash your hands!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would write a million things right here if I could see through these DAMN TEARS.
> 
> (I'm a little bit of a baby and this is the first long fic I've ever actually finished, and it took me through an entire half a year and wowee haha.)
> 
> I guess, most definitely what I want to do is thank everyone- everyone who read this fic, reviewed it and favorited it and encouraged me to finish it. Thank you guys so much!
> 
> And then I definitely need to thank Jerri, my beta who has fixed all of my awful mistakes and put up with my terrible writing and turned it into something worth reading. Her tumblr is teajing, check her out!
> 
> Special shoutouts to anyway who's talked to me/I've met on tumblr, which includes but is not limited to pwoutagonist, gaymakeout, clwkpage, composerjosh, and hikui. Probably would have not kept on chugging with this fic if it weren't for you guys.
> 
> One last mention for Shaky/kyrabanks, because I stole the name Annika from her Annie RP blog. She'll probably never see this but bless her anyway.
> 
> (Most of the characterizations (especially in this chapter) were inspired by those in my RP circle. CoughConnieandYmirCough)
> 
> ... And, I think that's it! Another thanks for reading and enjoying I guess? Ahh I have no idea what my next big project's going to be but I can only hope it'll be half as fun as this one was!


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